Parent participation in a program aimed at stopping teen substance abuse soared to record highs this month, with a total of over 400 parent participants so far.

Facilitated through the PTSA, the Be the Influence Parent Pledge is an agreement made by several hundred Redwood parents to help end teen substance abuse and unsupervised parties.

According to PTSA President Jean Lin, the Parent Pledge allows Redwood parents to enter their contact information into an online database. Via this database, parents can view who else has signed the pledge and can call other parents to check up on their children.

Signing the pledge grants access to parents’ phone numbers and email addresses. Those who sign the pledge agree to be called by other parents to find out their child’s level of supervision and his or her whereabouts on a given night.

In these “cold calls,” parents can find out if their children are at a house with parental supervision.

In addition, parents pledge to actively discourage drinking, smoking, unsupervised parties, and the possession of illegal substances. The pledge also asks parents to consider alerting the parents of a child who they suspect of drinking alcohol or smoking marijuana.

Although this program was implemented two years ago, Lin said that it is just gaining momentum this year.

“This year we have at least three times as many parents onboard with this pledge,” she said. “One person joins every day.”

Lin said that she attributes the pledge’s unprecedented increase in membership to the introduction of the online database.

Thirty-six percent of the current signatories are freshman parents and, according to Lin, the class representation diminishes as children get older, Lin said.

The Be the Influence campaign was prompted by the efforts of a Redwood parent two years ago.

“A parent came up to us and told us about a very successful program called ‘Parents Who Host Lose the Most,’” Lin said. “That’s what started the grassroots movement.”