PARENTS BACKING PRINCIPAL; APPROVE OF RESPONSE TO DRUG BUST

The parent council of Tilbury Area Public School (TAPS) is in full
support of how a recent drug incident involving some Grade 8 students
was handled. "Several of our members have had children in TAPS for a
number of years and we can all say that this was an isolated
incident," the parent council said in a written statement to The
Chatham Daily News.

Five Grade 8 students were suspended after allegedly participating in
"inappropriate behaviour at break time in a near by park" on Feb. 15.
This resulted in all five being suspended and two students being
charged with possession. Another student was also charged with
possession in separate incident. The drugs in question were cocaine,
prescription drugs and marijuana.

"We as a council and parents feel that (principal) Mr. (Ken) Gregory
and staff handled the situation properly," said the council.

"Even though the actual use of drugs took place off school property,
we believe that it is both a police and school issue," said the
council, adding it is important for both parties to be involved for
the safety of other children.

"It is regretful that this has happened at our school but it is a
sign of the times and could happen at any school," said the council.
"We are all confident that the principal and staff ensure that our
children are part of a safe and secure environment. We have no issues
surrounding the school safety or the way in which it is operated."

TAPS principal Ken Gregory has been urging parents to not allow their
children to leave the school during nutrition breaks so staff can
keep an eye on them.

Lambton Kent District School Board superintendent Dave Doey said, "I
think you'd find that all of our principals take that approach."

He added when parents and the schools work close together "the
outcome for kids is much more positive."

Doey said there isn't a board-wide policy prohibiting students from
leaving school during breaks. However, he noted it is "standard
operating procedure" for elementary school principals to determine,
with families at the beginning of each year, who has permission to
leave the school during breaks.

Doey said he hasn't heard of similar problems at other schools with
students leaving school during breaks.

"Those would be school-specific types of things," he said, adding
that kind of information wouldn't typically come back to the board office.

Doey said there is a drug and alcohol policy in place which includes
having drug use and possession addressed in the board's code of conduct.

Substance use and abuse is also part of the elementary curriculum,
and is addressed from Grades 1 to 8, he said. Illicit drugs are first
talked about in Grade 5 and all Grade 5 students are required to take
the Values, Influences and Peers program, which is delivered in
partnership with the police, Doey said.

The St. Clair Catholic District School Board also doesn't have a
board-wide policy regarding elementary students leaving school
property on breaks.

"It depends on the individual principals," said Paul Wubben, director
of education for the Catholic board.

When he was a principal, Wubben said, "I wouldn't generally allow it,
because it became difficult to police."

He agrees with the TAPS principal that it is important for parents to
open the lines of communication, especially about drugs. Noting with
today's busy lifestyles, where many families don't share a lot of
meals together, he said those kinds of conversations might not take place.

"You do have to purposely engage your child in conversation around
those kinds of issues, so you become aware of it," Wubben said.

Chatham Christian Schools, which houses a secondary school and
elementary school under one roof, allows its high school students to
leave during breaks, but not elementary students, said principal Hilda Roukema.

Noting this is her first year as principal, Roukema said she imagines
there have been issues with high school students leaving during breaks.

"I also believe we deal with it quite well," she said. "Anything
illegal is an automatic suspension."

Roukema said the school hasn't had any major problems, which she
attributes to the fact parents are serious about their childrens'
education, because they pay tuition to have them attend the school.