TUPE: Tobacco Use Prevention Education Program
The purpose of the TUPE program is to reduce youth tobacco use by helping young people grades 6-12 make healthful tobacco-related decisions through tobacco-specific educational instruction and activities that build knowledge as well as social skills and youth development assets.
While the primary focus of the program is tobacco prevention, including e-cigarettes/vape pens, our strategies are comprehensive and include information on alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs. Students are also building a wide variety of important and relevant skills including communication, planning, public speaking, and decision making.
What MDUSD Does - Our Comprehensive Program
MDUSD's TUPE program includes classroom-based substance abuse prevention programs, intervention and cessation services, and youth development activities, such as peer education.
- Classroom-Based Prevention Programs: Project ALERT (middle school) is a research-validated drug prevention program and proven to reduce the experimental and continued use of drugs. Research has also demonstrated the Project Toward No Drug Abuse (high school) program’s impact on reductions in cigarette smoking, alcohol use, marijuana use, hard drug use, and violence.
- Intervention Support & Cessation Resources: Brief Intervention is a short-term, one-on-one intervention that consists of 2-3 sessions for young people who use tobacco and/or other drugs. It utilizes motivational interviewing, cognitive behavior therapy, and the stages of change model to meet the needs of adolescents. We also promote cessation in a number of ways – referring current users to voluntary Brief Intervention sessions and providing cessation information and resources, and implementing school-wide “Cessation Campaigns.”
- Youth Development: Teams of students from every middle school, high school, and non-traditional (continuation/alternative) school are trained as TUPE Peer Educators each year. These students deliver anti-tobacco messages at their school through classroom presentations and school-wide events. In addition, the County Office also co-coordinates a countywide Youth Health Coalition, CourAGE. CourAGE members represent schools/districts from throughout the county.
- Tobacco product use is started and established primarily during adolescence.
- Each day in the U.S. about 2,000 youth under 18 years of age smoke their first cigarette and more than 300 youth under 18 years of age become daily cigarette smokers.
- Flavorings in tobacco products can make them more appealing to youth.
- In 2014, 73% of high school students and 56% of middle school students who used tobacco products in the past 30 days reported using a flavored tobacco product during that time.
- Recent increases in the use of e-cigarettes is driving increases in tobacco product use among youth.
- The number of middle and high school students using e-cigarettes rose from 2.1 million in 2017 to 3.6 million in 2018—a difference of about 1.5 million youth.
Classroom-Based Prevention Programs Curriculum
- High School (9th grade) - Project TND (Toward No Drug Abuse): Research has also demonstrated the Project Towards No Drug Abuse (high school) program's impact on reductions in cigarette smoking, alcohol use, marijuana use, hard drug use, and violence.
- Middle School (7th and 8th grades) - Project Alert: Project ALERT (middle school) is a research-validated drug prevention program and proven to reduce the experimental and continued use of drugs.
For parents/families
The Contra Costa County Office of Education offers many resources for families about tobacco prevention.
Upcoming Webinars:
Information on future webinars and to view the previous series please visit the Contra Costa County of Education's website.
Tobacco Cessation/Quiting Resources:
The conversation can start at home:
- California Smokers' HelpLine: Free services for teens and adults, including self-help materials and one-on-one counseling. Services are available in multiple languages.
- Anyone in Contra Costa County can dial 2-1-1 for direct cessation referrals, as well as access to all other local health and human services. See the 2-1-1 Flyer
- English: 1-800-NO BUTTS (1-800-662-8887) | Spanish: 1-800-45 NO FUME (1-800-456-6386)
- Chew Tobacco: 1-800-844-CHEW (1-800-844-2439)
- SmokeFree.gov Smart Phone Apps: NCI QuitPal, QuitSTART, QuitGuide
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Parents and other adults looking to help young people quit should text "QUIT" to (202) 899-7550.
MDUSD TUPE Site Coordinators
| SCHOOL | NAME | |
| Diablo View Middle | Cynthia Brewington | brewingtonc@mdusd.org |
| El Dorado Middle | Julie Grant | grantj@mdusd.org |
| Foothill Middle | Maya Whitehead | whiteheadm@mdusd.org |
| Oak Grove Middle | Samantha Ashford | ashfords@mdusd.org |
| Oak Grove Middle | Annie Hagglund | hagglunda@mdusd.org |
| Pine Hollow Middle | Edmund Perryman | perrymane@mdusd.org |
| Pleasant Hill Middle | Laura Wilson | wilsonla@mdusd.org |
| Riverview Middle | Leslie Amor Harris | harrisla@mdusd.org |
| Sequoia Middle | Susan Sutherland | sutherlands@mdusd.org |
| Valley View Middle | Amber Isherwood | isherwooda@mdusd.org |
| College Park High | Marcella Barrios | barriosm@mdusd.org |
| Concord High | Jeremy Eklund | eklundjj@mdusd.org |
| Concord High | Niko Villar | villarn@mdusd.org |
| Crossroads | Donna Lawson | lawsondo@mdusd.org |
| Horizons CIS | Rebecca Woo | woor@mdusd.org |
| Mt. Diablo High | Jane Moseley | moseleyj@mdusd.org |
| Northgate High | VACANT | |
| Olympic High | Paula Barker | barkerp@mdusd.org |
| Prospect High | Rebecca Woo | woor@mdusd.org |
| Ygnacio Valley High | Madison Kelleher | kelleherm@mdusd.org |
The community is invited to join us for the second in this year’s series – “Vaping and Tobacco Use Prevention” – with Derrick Kirk, a Youth Development Specialist with the Contra Costa County Office of Education’s Tobacco Use Prevention Education (TUPE) program.
Linda Pete
Administrator, Student Services
(925) 682-8000 x4061
petel@mdusd.org
Linda Faix
Sr. Secretary
(925) 682-8000 x4025
faixl@mdusd.org
