PARENT: NOTIFY PARENTS WHEN DRUGS FOUND AT SCHOOL

A Perquimans parent says the school system should do more to notify
parents when drugs are found in the schools, but school officials say
they are communicating well enough.

Christina Blake, mother of a student at Perquimans County Middle
School, said she was upset that school officials did not notify her
when cocaine was discovered earlier in the school year.

"When there's lice found in school, they contact us," she said. "When
there's a terrorist routine, they contact us. When there's an outbreak
of the flu, they contact us."

According to a report to law enforcement from Perquimans County
Schools, a teacher discovered a middle school student playing with
something in his pocket on Sept. 18, 2007. The student turned over the
item to the teacher, who brought the matter to the principal. The
student was questioned and the school resource officer tested the
substance, which proved to be cocaine. Blake said her son shared a
class with the student. Had she been told about the cocaine in a
timely fashion, she said she would have given her son a drug test to
verify he hadn't used any of it before it was confiscated. "It's not
right," she said. "We have a right to know. We need to be made aware
when drugs are found on school property."

Brenda Lassiter, public information officer for Perquimans County
Schools, said parents would have been notified if there was a
continuous and ongoing drug problem. However, she said Principal Jamie
Liverman determined the drug find was an isolated incident. She said
Liverman did everything required by state and local policy when he
notified law enforcement. "If the communication would have helped in
any way, it would have been made," Lassiter said. "In this particular
instance, there was nothing to be gained by communicating the drug
find. It was an isolated case; it was reported to law enforcement; it
was reported to the superintendent and the student was disciplined
according to board policy."

Dwayne Stallings, Perquimans superintendent, said drug finds are
public record and are filed with the sheriff's department. He also
said parents who are concerned about the safety of the schools can
join the district's safe schools committees.