SHELTON SCHOOLS SEEK HELP ON DRUG POLICY

Shelton School District officials are bringing community members and
educators together to study ways schools can prevent students from using
tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs.

The school board wants the group to consider testing students for drugs,
bringing drug dogs on campus and hiring an undercover police officer.

Teenage drug and alcohol use is slightly higher in Shelton than the state
average, according to the latest version of the Washington State Survey of
Adolescent Health Behaviors.

Among 10th-graders, 23 percent reported using tobacco in the 30 days prior
to the survey, while the statewide rate was 19, the survey showed.

When it came to marijuana use, 25.6 percent of Shelton 10th-graders reported
using it, while 21.9 percent of teens in the same age group said so across
the state.

A total of 43.8 percent of 10th-graders also reported using alcohol, beer,
wine or wine coolers, while the statewide rate was 37.6 percent.

It's notable that answers to some of the survey questions were given by as
few as 32 students in Shelton, Superintendent Joan Zook said.

"I wouldn't say we have an outrageous problem, but the fact that we have
students at all (using drugs and alcohol) means that we need to do whatever
we can to deter it," she said.

Tumwater school officials last month decided against testing students for
drugs before they take part in extracurricular activities, even though the
U.S. Supreme Court approved such policies earlier this year.

The Tumwater community's mixed reaction to such a move proved the timing
wasn't right, educators there said.

Two districts in Washington have such policies: Burlington-Edison School
District in Burlington, and Wahkiakum School District in Cathlamet.

The Shelton school board's idea comes from a desire to create an atmosphere
intolerant of drug use, board Chairman Jim Smith said. That's especially
necessary when students are often able to buy drugs and alcohol in other
parts of the community, he said.

"We don't think it's just a school issue, and we also don't want to turn the
schools into a prison," he said. "But we want to have it so that kids don't
know when we're going to inspect; that they are aware that these (searches)
will be random."

Smith would also like to see students more willing to speak up when they
know friends and schoolmates are using drugs and alcohol, he said.

"We want to change the climate where it's not cool to be doing those
things," he said. "That's the toughest thing."

The issue is likely to return to the school board in the next month or so,
Smith said.

Shelton High School students had mixed reactions to the idea.

"I think it could be a bad thing and a good thing," said Desarae Denys, a
freshman. "It would keep some people from doing drugs, but the dogs on
campus would be the downside"

Denys and other students said they didn't think the drug problem at their
school was big enough to merit drastic measures.

"I hear of people smoking cigarettes, but not of many people doing drugs,"
she said. Sophomore Brandon Gosser agreed.

"I would find it unnecessary," he said. "The problem is pretty small and I
think dogs going through lockers could be too much."

But Gosser said he wouldn't be surprised if parents were supportive of the
idea.

"They're protective, and they'd probably want the school to do it as quickly
as possible," he said. "I just think that even the kids who are doing
(drugs) aren't doing anything big."