I met with a group of parents and teachers from four different high schools on Oct. 15th and one of the topics that came up was drugs in the secondary schools. Their students and kids tell them that everyone knows where to find drugs, and most of them could find it in/during school. At the same time, and despite a desire for zero tolerance of bullies and drugs, teachers are encouraged to get more of the students through to graduation regardless of the hurdles, and administration face pressure to give second chances to abusers of the most serious rules. Our struggling students do need support programs, tolerance and understanding, but this is much different than allowing assaults and drug violations to end with a five-day suspension. It is a sad comment when the easiest place for dealers and drugs users to practice is in school where the consequences are small. The drugs that kids have access to are not the joints from their parents’ time, they are stronger, nastier substances that ruin lives and steal childhood.
Solutions:
Give full support and resources to vice principals who take a hard line on drugs and bullies. Send the message that drugs and violence are a short-cut to expulsion, and that parents at EVERY school in the district can have a reasonable expectation that their child will be safe from dealers and bullies. This means as a trustee I will pursue a more aggressive policy in dealing with student conduct referrals for drugs and violence.
Celebrate schools that go above and beyond in making their schools healthy, safe, and tolerant. Advertise their programs, and reproduce their strategies. Trustees, if they get to know their schools, are in a good position to do this.
Involve the police more often, both in prevention and in consequences. Community policing and liaison officers are already in place, but the mindset has to change that drugs and violence are not just school violations - they are criminal acts.
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