ROBESON SCHOOLS LINK DRUGS, VIOLENCE

Violence In Robeson County Schools Is Among The Worst In The State, And
Officials Think They Know Why.

LUMBERTON -- A teacher at Lumberton High School was kicked recently when
she tried to calm a student in her class.

Frankie Scott, a resource officer at the school, said the student is
normally mild-mannered. He said drugs may be the reason for the student's
drastic change in behavior.

"This kid is overall a pretty nice fellow," Scott said.

Similar incidents occurred in other Robeson County schools last year.

Robeson County ranked sixth in the state and first in the Cape Fear region
in the number of incidents of school violence in the 1999-2000 school year,
according to a state report.

The system reported 259 violent acts, or an average of 11.029 acts per
1,000 students. The system reported 153 incidents, or 6.6 acts per 1,000,
the previous year.

The state average was 5.9 acts per 1,000 students, according to the annual
report from the state Department of Public Instruction. The report tracks
the number of cases or incidents of school violence reported by the state's
117 school systems.

It tracks assaults on school personnel, sexual assaults, robberies, weapons
possession and possession of controlled substances.

School officials said they believe drug use by students is behind the
increase in school violence in Robeson County.

The system reported 136 incidents of possession of a controlled substance
in 2000, compared with 82 the year before.

Scott said more of the ninth-graders at Lumberton High School are
experimenting with drugs to "fit in."

"At junior high school these students were at the top of the totem pole,"
he said. "Now that they are at the high school, they are at the bottom, and
they are doing things just to impress the juniors and seniors."

Schools officials said their hands are tied when it comes to handling drugs
in schools.

"The area that is most frustrating is possession of a controlled substance
given the fact that it is a condition, which unfortunately is very
prevalent in the county beyond the schools," Superintendent Barry Harding said.

Security and prevention

School officials said they are trying to address the problem by working
with local law enforcement agencies and using surveillance cameras.

But prevention -- along with enforcement -- is needed to curb the upward
trend of drug abuse in schools, said Mark Schwarze, a counselor at Palmer
Prevention Program Inc.

"I think the school system has good security measures and enforcement in
place," Schwarze said. "But ... we can continue to pull them out of the
river, but at some point we have to walk down to the river to see why they
are falling in."

The school system works with Palmer and other prevention programs in the
county.

Last year, Palmer received more than 400 drug abuse referrals from parents,
schools and other agencies. Students who are caught with alcohol or drugs
on campus must attend a 12-hour drug education program. It is mandatory for
parents to attend the program.

Many teens decide to use drugs as a way to escape their problems, Schwarze said

"What it really comes down to is coping skills," he said. "These kids are
not getting these skills from home or school. This is also an environmental
issue. Drugs are glorified in movies and television and they see it at home."

Randall Graham, the chief juvenile court counselor, said the increase in
violent acts is reflected in the courts.

"We are seeing much more violent offenses," Graham said. "It's prevalent in
the middle schools and with even younger youths."

Graham said he wasn't surprised by the county's high ranking in the state
report. He sees youth who are charged with violent crimes almost every day
in juvenile court, he said.

"I think the courts are doing everything that they can with the laws before
them," Graham said. "The community needs to stand up and be accountable.
The war cannot just be fought in the courts, it must be fought out in the
communities. Nor is it just the responsibility of the courts or schools."

Weapons noted

School officials are also dealing with a growing number of weapons on
campus. Possession of a weapon was the second highest violent act -- 83
incidents -- in the school system, according to the report.

A majority of those incidents involved pocket knives, said Fred McKinnon,
executive director of auxiliary services. The school system has a
zero-tolerance policy regarding weapons or items that could be used as
weapons, he said.

"Our numbers include third-graders that might have had a pocket knife in
their pocket," he said. "Not weapons that were used in violent acts on
school campuses. If you really look at the figures, it doesn't indicate
that we are any more violent than any other school systems."

Another reason for the system's ranking is the willingness of school
officials to report incidents, Harding said.

"The bottom line where our undesirable figures in the report are concerned
is that we are doing an outstanding job in reporting all incidences of
violence which is, after all, the purpose of the report," he said.

Other acts of violence reported were: assault on school personnel, 14;
assaults that resulted in serious injury, 8; possession of a firearm, 6;
reports of sexual offense, 6; robbery without a dangerous weapon, 1; and
assault involving a weapon, 1.

"Luckily, we have not had any terrible situations in the school," said
Scott, the school resource officer at Lumberton High School. "But that
doesn't mean that the potential isn't there."