SCHOOL BOARD UNVEILS DRUG-FREE ZONES

Signs will soon be installed around four school sites in the Okanagan
Skaha School District, officially marking drug-free school zones.

Assistant superintendent Dave Stigant told the school board that the
signs have been ordered and should be installed in early April.

"Forty-two signs will be purchased and distributed to be placed at all
entry portals to the four campuses," said Stigant.

Drug-free school zones encompass a two-block radius around four
locations - Penticton Secondary School and KVR Middle School, Princess
Margaret Junior Secondary and Skaha Lake Middle School, Summerland
Secondary and Summerland Middle School and McNicoll Park Junior
Secondary, also taking in Nkwala Elementary School.

When the signs go up, each student will receive a brochure that
includes maps of the zones, outlines the program and indicates the
penalties for being caught with drugs in those areas.

"And then they'll be given one annually at the start of school," said
Stigant.

Under the program, signs are posted within a two-block radius of
schools and - through arrangement with the RCMP and local prosecutors
- - the penalty for being caught in possession of drugs in that zone is
double and the penalty for trafficking in drugs in those areas, is
triple.

The program was first set up in Kamloops and is now also in place in
the Kelowna school district.

Trustee Larry Little noted that the Penticton Public Library and
Museum are within the Pen High zone and suggested that perhaps the
city could secure some signs for those buildings.

"Certainly I think they'd be pleased to work together," he
said.

The cost of the metal signs is about $4,000.

The program is also about education, and in both Kamloops and Kelowna
it's the students who have taken on the job of getting the message
out.

Trustees expressed an interest in having some of the secondary
students help educate those who reside within the new drug free zones.