SCHOOLS SHUT OUT METH TASK FORCE

The Local Meth Task Force Wants To Educate The District's Students On
The Dangers Of The Drug.

But so far it's been shut out of local schools.

In order to get into the district's schools and have access to the
students, members of the task force must first sit down with the
school board and explain what they want to do and why.

And once that is done, School District 42 chair Cheryl Ashlie says,
it's up to the board and the staff to figure out if the goals of the
task force are the same as the goals of the school district.

Plenty of groups and businesses try and hawk their goods to the
school board, Ashlie says. Not all meet approval.

"We get approached by a multitude of organizations...I think I get
e-mails twice a month like that, saying 'please try our product,
please try our program.'"

The board gets those requests "all the time," Ashlie continued. "We
have to look at them on their merit and see if they fit within what
we're trying to achieve."

Ashlie's comments come in response to those made by Maple Ridge Mayor
Gord Robson who told The TIMES that the task force is finding it
"impossible" to get into local schools and educate children.

Task Force chair Mary Robson says she will make a presentation to the
school board to bring members up to speed on the proposed curriculum.

The problem as she sees it lies in the fact that the district doesn't
want to put too much emphasis on a single drug.

"They don't want to separate the drugs," but crystal meth, she says,
doesn't lend itself to being part of a larger discussion.

"Our message is that meth is a very different drug. It's so much more
highly addictive. It can take over the mind of an individual. You can
lose your mind, your body and your soul."

Therefore the drug needs to have its own curriculum, it needs to be
set apart from the others, Robson says.

The meth message would be taught by current drug and alcohol
counsellors, but it wouldn't get lost in the lessons about alcohol
"other drugs or gambling," Robson says.

While Robson was quick to suggest that this issue is not a political
one, she did say that other school districts, most notably the
Victoria School District, had a little difficulty in getting the meth
education program started, but have since managed to put
approximately 20,000 students through.