CRY FOR HELP FROM A SCHOOL IN NEED

SHAME, anger and fear ... that's the fallout from a shock report that
claims to lift the lid on a Riverland high school's most painful
secrets.Renmark High School is in crisis as it grapples with a painful
report into sex and drugs that has shocked parents.

School chaplain Ruth Strout has publicly aired the school's darkest
secrets to a Federal inquiry into substance abuse and in doing so
highlighted a growing problem affecting rural communities across Australia.

Over three pages, Ms Strout paints a picture of child prostitution,
drunken teenage sex, chronic truancy and drug abuse by parents and by
students at the school. She reveals drug-related crime is commonplace
while drink driving has claimed so many young lives that the school
has built its own memorial garden.

She ends the report - written without the school's knowledge - with a
desperate plea for "help" to fight the crisis.

Renmark High has 600 students and 50 staff.

Ms Strout's paper to the Federal Parliamentary Committee on Family and
Community Affairs coincided with her battling to survive as school
chaplain. A funding shortfall among local churches, which pays her
wages for the 10-hour a week job, had threatened to dry up.

But late last week extra funding was found to allow Ms Strout to
continue for another six months.

Her report says students are taking "tobacco, marijuana and then
harder drugs" and are "frequently involved" in crime. And prostitution
is on the rise with many "young people having sex for favors, such as
drugs".

"Many of the students I see live in abusive homes, where it is common
for either parent to have some form of drug-related problem," the
report says. This ranges from alcohol, marijuana and tobacco to speed
and heroin.

"The children are often neglected in every way," it
says.

"Many are chronic truants from an early age and so are effectively
missing out on an education."

Students confided in Ms Strout of violence in the home.

"Very often the violence is from one or both parents, many times it
involves their sibling and sometimes the young person becomes a
punching bag," it says.

It says drug-related crime among teenagers is widespread with the
elderly in Renmark living in fear.

"Stealing cars mainly for kicks, breaking into cars and houses,
stealing anything from anybody including family members to get money
to support the drug taking is common," it claims.

Senior Sergeant Wilkinson of Renmark police said patrols had been
summoned to the school only four times in the past year on
drug-related incidents.

He was unaware of prostitution or harder drugs at the school, but
would have expected that, given the seriousness of the claims, police
would have been involved long ago and said: "We have not been called
in."

He said Ms Strout was "highly respected" in the community.

"I would not question her integrity," he said.

"Ruth would genuinely believe everything she has reported.

"She would not inflate stuff to get a response."

The report said alcohol was easily available to teenagers with the
"resultant unsafe behaviors to those that consume alcohol and others
is widespread".

Ms Strout says many schoolgirls aged 13-16 had become pregnant. "Each
time it involved the consumption of alcohol to the point of being
oblivious of the condom in their pocket," the report says.

Last year, the school set up a Memorial Rose Garden as a "sad
testimony to the impact that alcohol and driving has on our young
people and the community".

The plot has five plaques etched with the names of students who died
in car crashes between 1983 and 1998.

Ms Strout has pleaded for financial help from the Federal Government
to set up crisis housing and foster care.

Parents spoken to by the Sunday Mail said they were upset and angry at
the revelations about the school, which has been at the centre of drug
and sex rumors for several years. Some parents have called for
security guards at the school while others are demanding an inquiry.

Renmark High School Council has received complaints about "some of the
things in the report". Asked if the school endorsed the report or
stood by Ms Strout, school principal Paul Wilton said: "No comment."

He said the report dealt frankly about alcohol, sex and drug abuse
issues.

"It is a blunt and frank assessment of the problems faced by a small
group of people with whom our chaplain works.

"I would be bitterly disappointed if this minority was misrepresented
in an effort to generalise," Mr Wilton says. "Renmark High School has
not suspended a single student for a drug-related issue this year."

He said similar problems confronted communities across Australia and
steps were being taken to address the problems.

A condom machine may be installed while the school has expanded its
health programs.

Youth worker Shane Brigg, who runs a Renmark youth centre, confirmed
teachers at the school were aware of the issues.

"Unless we face up to the issues they will never go away," Mr Brigg
said.

He said Ms Strout had a "real heart" for the students who had huge
potential, but added: "It would have been nice for her to run the
report past the other youth workers."

School counsellor Mark Denti has spoken out in support of Ms Strout.
While unaware of the specifics of her report, he confirmed drugs AD
mainly alcohol and marijuana AD along with teenage sex were "the top
two issues" at the school. "Some school-age children who are known
drug users to me also have criminal records for car theft and break and
enters," he said. "There are parents who are known substance abusers
who neglect their children."