CVSD RESPONDS TO RISE IN TEENS TRYING DRUGS

They seem to be getting younger, the teens who parade before the
Cumberland Valley School Board for their fate to be decided in
discipline hearings.

Ninth- and tenth-graders are getting caught with marijuana and
abusing prescription drugs, and when the board's discipline committee
asks, most of the teens say they started using drugs during the
summer before ninth grade, says Assistant Superintendent Mary Riley.

"That summer is absolutely crucial," Riley says.

Twenty-six students faced discipline hearings in the first two months
of school, a disturbingly high number compared with the 56 teens who
had hearings during the entire last school year, when the first
hearing occurred after the October Homecoming dance, she says.

CVCAC joining in

So the district and Cumberland Valley Community Action Committee
(CVCAC) are bringing out the big guns to combat teen drug and alcohol
use with a hard-hitting "Drugs 101" program open to all district parents.

It isn't the first sweeping anti-drug initiative they've taken.

Last year, high school students who participated in activities or
drive to school were entered into a database for random drug testing
at school, and those weekly tests continue this year.

But now parents who wonder whether their teens are on drugs won't
have to leave the question to chance. Parents who attend the Dec. 7
drug program will take home a free drug test to use on their children.

The district encourages parents not to be in denial about teens and
drugs. "You always want to think it's not your kid," Riley says. "You
want to believe them."

The evening presentation spells out the signs of drug and alcohol use
for parents who aren't drug savvy and offers them a peek into a
teenage drug user's bedroom - staged, of course. Parents will be
asked to identify drug and alcohol paraphernalia placed throughout the room.

Marijuana, inhalants, ecstasy, methamphetamines, cocaine and heroin
all will be addressed in the two-hour presentation. Parents are
encouraged to bring their questions.

Riley reminds parents that some drugs are available much closer to
home. "It's a trend right now ... children are raiding medicine
cabinets and giving out things that aren't theirs."

But thanks to the random drug testing policy and other district
initiatives such as randomly testing students for alcohol at school
dances, teens are coming forward more readily to report drug
activity, she says.

"I think what's working is there is a greater awareness, particularly
at the high school level, that drugs and alcohol on school property
are not acceptable."