The Escondido Union High School District has helped students by providing them with two programs, Prevention and Diversion (PAD) and Safety Outreach for Students (SOS). These programs help students from the regular at-home suspension and instead spend their suspension at the district while attending one of these programs.
PAD and SOS are programs that students attend at the District office for a maximum of 5 days. Students learn the awareness of what drugs do to their bodies and the importance of what bullying does to a person. These program counselors work with students in the Escondido district over the course of the school year, including summer school.
Nathen Boelhauf, the SOS counselor, is in charge of students who have had conduct violations involving fighting, bullying, weapons, possession, and more. This program focuses on relationships, apologizing, and bullying but mostly teaches students to take ownership of their actions. Students attend for at least two to five days, depending on their situation. The goal of this program is to keep students in the district and lower their risk of involvement in trouble.
“A few students really like our program and do not want to go back to their campuses. Some students really light up when they see us back on their campuses. Some students are neutral. Some students do not enjoy their time here,” Boelhauf said.
Holly Anderson, the PAD counselor, is in charge of students who have conflicts surrounding substances and alcohol. This program can help students understand the importance of how substance can impact their lives. Students attend for a full five days. Anderson helps these students identify their problems and come up with ways of helping them and changing their point of view on substances.
These two programs have a great impact on these students, from being educated on the importance of substances and bullying to making a life-changing decision on how to change for the better. The Escondido district has also had reconditioning from other districts in the area.
“We have presented our program to Southern California school districts at a school climate conference, we got a lot of positive feedback. We have worked closely with Vista Unified School district this year and helped them build a program that is modeled off of PAD and SOS,” Anderson said.
Although students have their own opinions on these programs, whether it’s pointless or very helpful, other students think these counselors had a big impact on their lives.
“Mrs. Anderson truly cares about who you are, what you’re doing, how you’re treating yourself, how you’re being about yourself. She just cares about whether or not you’re doing good, and I just feel like when you have someone like that in your corner, it really does help you,” a PAD participant said. This student opted to remain anonymous.
