REPORT: DRUG PROBLEM "SLIGHT'

The Bryant Community Justice Council has announced the results of a survey
it conducted in local schools to study drug abuse in the school district.
Those results show that there is at least a slight problem with drug abuse
in the Bryant School District.

The survey, which was funded through a grant the Council received from the
United States Department of Justice, was given to Bryant School District
eighth, ninth, 10th and 11th graders.

The survey asked the students questions pertaining to drug abuse
perception, safety perception and actual drug abuse and criminal activity.

The survey was administered as a result of a partnership between the Saline
County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, the Bryant Community Justice Council
and the Bryant Public Schools. Bryant Community Prosecutor Dennis
Wormington said, "Originally the Council decided we would focus on the
schools so they decided to survey the students to see where we stood and if
there were problems in the schools." The survey included several questions
about drug abuse and criminal activity in the schools.

When students were asked how easy or hard it was to get drugs at school
71.7 percent of the responding students indicated that it is easy to obtain
pills (including prescription drugs obtained from various sources). Only 30
percent of the responding students answered that they had actually used
some type of pill at least once in their life time. Responses to questions
about marijuana were similar.

When asked how easy it is to get marijuana 65.2 percent of responding
students said it was easy to get, and 31.6 percent of the responding
students admitted to having actually used marijuana at least once in their
lifetime.

When asked if they had obtained any controlled substances at school 76.8
percent of the responding students answered that they had not. The rest
either had or did not respond.

When asked if they had ever gone to school under the influence of a
controlled substance 69.8 percent of the responding students said that they
had not. "We kind of knew we had a problem, but this (the survey) gave some
validation that there is a slight problem with substance abuse on campus,"
said Wormington.

He said that he felt some of the problem with drug abuse can be attributed
to the fact that drugs have become at least a little easier to obtain over
the years.

He said the controlled substance that seems to be most prominent in the
schools is pills, and this is probably due in part to the nature of pills
in that they are less likely to be noticed than some other controlled
substances.

"Mainly it's been prescription drugs," said Wormington. "Law enforcement
officials have found that a lot of those drugs are easy to conceal, don't
leave an odor on your breath like alcohol and some of them don't even
appear on drug tests."

Students were also asked a variety of questions about the overall level of
safety in the schools.

When asked if they felt safe or very safe at school 89 percent of the
responding students said they did feel safe, and 89 percent of the
responding students said they had never stayed at home instead of going to
school because they thought someone would harm them. Over 84 percent of the
responding students said they had never been physically hurt at school, but
55 percent of the students said they have been teased or bothered by other
students during the last school year. In recent months the Saline County
Prosecuting Attorney's Office, the Bryant Community Justice Council and the
Bryant Public Schools have teamed up with district parents and patrons to
form the Safe and Drug Free Schools Committee. This committee has since
helped in getting several policies in the student handbooks changed in an
attempt to assist administrators in enforcing a no-tolerance policy for
school violence and drugs on campus. For example, students will no longer
be allowed to carry prescription medications at school.

All students will have to check their medications in with a school nurse.

An additional nurse has been hired to administer medications prescribed by
physicians or over-the-counter medications sent by parents. Another example
is that the school district recently renewed it's contract with Insure The
Children to provide a substance abuse counselor in the schools, and the
number of school resource officers has doubled from two to four. These
officers will be in the schools and at extra-curricular events and will
employ the use of a K-9 trained in narcotics when needed. The Bryant Public
Schools in collaboration with the Safe and Drug Free Schools Committee has
also implemented an emergency and crisis plan. "We're trying to figure our
problems out and solve them," said Wormington. To help better educate
students on the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse the Community Justice
Council and Wormington sought out a grant for a prevention program. The
Bryant Public Schools and the Saline County Prosecuting Attorney's Office
have been awarded a $20,000 grant from the state to implement "Camp Twist
and Shout", a program designed to to educate elementary school students in
drug and crime prevention. The program will be implemented into the
physical education classes, and will consist of 15 sessions. Teachers
completed the training for the program Aug. 23. "It's kind of a physical
activity so they will incorporate it into the P.E. classes," said Wormington.