WEST NEW YORK -- Dr. Oz will be filming a conversation with students and parents at West New York's Memorial High School Thursday night in an effort to start a "National Night of Conversation" on drug addiction.
"This topic of conversation is very taboo among communities. No one wants to address the elephant in the room so to speak," said West New York Superintendent Clara Brito Herrera. "This is going to be in West New York, but it will be prompting families throughout the nation to have this conversation with their children."
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Herrera said that the meeting will take place in the auditorium starting at 5 p.m., and is open to local press but closed to the general public. Students and parents were sent invitations, she said.
Memorial High School was chosen, according to "The Dr. Oz Show" spokesman Tim Sullivan, because it already had a partnership with HealthCorps, a national nonprofit started 15 years ago by Dr. Mehmet Oz. Also, he said, Oz lives in N.J., and the state legislature has introduced a resolution to make Nov. 19 a "Night of Conversation" about drug and alcohol addiction, so the location made sense.
"Also we have a very supportive principal (in West New York) that wanted us to do this. Not every school can put this together, and the administration of this school was just awesome," he said.
The event will be streamed live from "The Dr. Oz Show" website, and parts of the filming may be used in a "follow-up" episode of "The Dr. Oz Show" on as as-yet-unscheduled date in December, Sullivan said.
According to Sal Valenza, the district's food service director for 18 years, West New York has "been at the forefront of the wellness movement" for several years. The relationships it developed from being a part of Bill Clinton's Alliance for a Healthier Generation in 2006, led to a partnership with HealthCorps two years ago, he said.
West New York students make pizza as part of the Farm to School program. (West New York Board of Education)
HealthCorps helped them secure a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture-sponsored Farm to School program, which has allowed the school to offer healthy Jersey produce in all its cafeterias, he said.
Last month, as part of the program, middle school students participated in "Harvest Week" and learned to make their own pickles and their own pizza with homemade tomato sauce, dough and "hand-stretched mozzarella cheese," he said.
Recently, Memorial was one of 44 high schools nationwide to enter into a new two-year arrangement with HealthCorps, that led the district to receive a HealthCorps coordinator, Sullivan said.
West New York's new HealthCorps coordinator Kyle Ross is paid for by sponsors, and provides guest health classes in school, consults with the district on wellness, and is working on creating a cooking club, Valenza said.
"He's trying to build a culture of wellness in the schools," he said.
UPDATE: The event will be streamed live here, Sullivan said.
Laura Herzog may be reached at lherzog@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @LauraHerzogL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.