It's beginning to look a little bit red in St. Tammany Parish this month.
And no, it has nothing to do with the gory costumes that come along with the Halloween season.
It's time to Wrap the Parish in Red for Red Ribbon Week, a week dedicated to educating kids about personal choices, drug prevention and self-esteem.
The idea is for the community to come together as schools launch their Red Ribbon Weeks and deck out the area in red. The effort, being led by the newly formed Louisiana Children and Youth Prevention Coalition this year, will run from Oct. 23 through Oct. 31. The group hopes to "get the entire parish of St. Tammany to turn red," said LCYPC founder David Johnson. In doing so, it's encouraging residents, governments and businesses in the community to participate. Contests will take place to reward those who rally around the cause.
Meanwhile, schools across St. Tammany will introduce the coalition's curriculum that corresponds with the campaign. The curriculum, coined "KiKi's Red Ribbon Week" after fallen DEA agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena, focuses on the "social and emotional" issues surrounding drug prevention and education, said Dara Lemoine-Johnson, a founder of the coalition and creator of the group's school curriculum. Lessons focus on teaching students age-appropriate information about good and bad substances, community heroes, self esteem, the science of drugs and their effects on the brain, peer pressure and problem solving.
This year's theme is, "I'm better drug free."
"Children just have to be so careful about what they may just even pick up these days with fentanyl and counterfeit drugs. And a lot of medicine cabinets at home have things that are really not good for these children to get their hands on," said Lemoine-Johnson, a retired teacher.
The idea is to teach in a positive way, she continued, without scaring children.
While schools have participated in Red Ribbon Week for some time, Lemoine-Johnson said there was no official curriculum to go with it, and that opened a door for the coalition to come in and make a tangible difference. Lemoine-Johnson previously taught at Pontchartrain Elementary where she tested the curriculum before her departure. About 5,000 kids have already gone through the program, she said.
Each school's participation will vary, said Meredith Mendez, director of communications for St. Tammany Parish Public School System. Some schools will host different dress-up days, while others may have scaled back participation.
Mandeville Elementary is one of the schools leading the charge on Red Ribbon Week this year. The school will participate in the curriculum and also have themed dress-up days to correspond with each day of the program. Those days include wearing red, wearing hats, a pajama day, a storybook character day and a sports jersey day. The school will be decorated, positive posters will line the hallways and the week will conclude with a pep rally and visit from local high school students, said Principal Stephanie Franzo.
Franzo added that at the elementary level, they walk a "fine line" when speaking on things like drugs to keep things age-appropriate.
"At this level, it's about making good choices, being healthy and being aware," she said.
There is also efforts being made for older grades, but those come more in the form of messaging campaigns and highlighting topics at events like football games.
As for the community, the hope is there is support throughout the parish that continues to grow each year. The group has even looped in the mayors of each town to compete for a trophy. Whichever city has the most participation wrapping their towns red will win the "Mayor's Team Challenge" and a crystal trophy to display in its city hall.
Mandeville Mayor Clay Madden said the city will be putting up banners on the east and west approaches in town. Officials will also be decorating city hall, and an area home and business on Lakeshore Drive will be participating as well. The contest will be judged Oct. 23-24 and a winner will be announced at the Widewater Music & Arts Festival.
"This is just a start," said Madden. "It might be a little slow, it might be just Mandeville that's going all out, but hopefully we can get other cities to be just as involved."