DRUG USE SEES STUDENTS BARRED FROM HOSTEL

Hamilton Boys' High School has suspended 24 students from its hostel after
police found some of them smoking cannabis in the college grounds.

One of the students, a 16-year-old, is understood to have been selling
cannabis to other boys in the hostel.

He was the only one suspended from the school itself and his future there
is uncertain. The board of trustees will meet later this week to decide
whether to expel him.

Headmaster Susan Hassall said she was confident they had identified all
those involved.

Investigations into cannabis use by students at Argyle House began late on
July 31 when police found some students smoking cannabis in the school
grounds. They reported the boys to school authorities.

Inquiries revealed that 24 of the 125 boys who live in the hostel were
involved in some way. The boys, aged 14-16, were suspended from the hostel
and sent home. All but seven have since been reinstated and are back living
in the hostel.

Two of the seven, who live out of Hamilton, have withdrawn from the school
and intend going to their local secondary schools.

The police are not taking any action on the matter.

Mrs Hassall said she was bitterly disappointed with the students. "We are
proud of the record we have," she said.

The school, one of Waikato's largest with a roll of 1350, had a firm policy
against drug use, Mrs Hassall said.

"This is a significant social issue which every school faces," she said.

"We are resolved to deal with it firmly. I am sure the students will learn
from it, understand the consequences of their actions and modify their
behaviour in future."

Hamilton Boys is the second Waikato secondary school in two months to take
a hard-line approach to teenagers using cannabis. In June Cambridge High
School excluded eight pupils aged between 13 and 14.