ATTENDANCE SPARSE AT CALAIS MEETING ON DRUG AWARENESS

CALAIS -- Fearful that a student might end up in the hospital or dead
because of a drug overdose, the school committee has taken an
aggressive approach to solving the drug problem in the schools.

Tuesday night, the committee held the first of several meetings to
develop a consistent drug and alcohol policy that can cope with the
substance-abuse realities of the 21st century.

School committee members Nancy Gillis and Tracy DeWitt are
spearheading the effort. Volunteers from a cross section of students,
parents, staff and professionals will be included in a committee that
will develop the new policy. A meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. tonight
at the Calais High School.

One of the goals of the Tuesday night meeting was to discuss updating
the current school committee policy to include a zero tolerance for
drug and alcohol use for students kindergarten through grade 12, while
at the same time providing students with help for their problem.

Although there are more than 800 students in the school system, only
50 people attended Tuesday's meeting, including a handful of parents,
a dozen students and a few teachers.

A representative of Calais Regional Hospital and the police department
also were invited but did not attend. The city's clergy also was
invited, but only the Rev. Bob Hinton of the First Baptist Church was
there.

Assistant district attorney Paul Cavanaugh, who volunteered to serve
on the committee, defended the police department. He said there were
no officers present because the department was short staffed.

Robbinston Grammar School Principal John Owen disagreed. "I don't
care how busy the police department is. I can tell you stories as a
citizen of Calais about things that have gone on here that the police
know about that have been swept under the rug, just as clearly as some
of the parents have swept things under the rug," he said.

CHS student and senior class president Katie Churchill said the
student council had conducted a survey of high school students. The
survey revealed that a majority of the students favored a policy that
would apply to all students. Students said that under the present
system, athletes were held to a higher standard than other students.
Students said they also believed that once a student was given a
handbook with the rules, that should serve as the first warning. If a
student violates the policy after being given the handbook, there
should be punitive action.

Most of the students said they also believed there should be random
testing of athletes, while others suggested random drug testing on all
students.

Students were also asked to comment on how pervasive the problem is.
One student wrote, "We wouldn't have any teams if we had drug
tests."

Several students said they would support in-school searches. "I feel
the drug policy is perfectly fine as it is. It just needs to be more
strictly enforced. Why don't we have random drug searches? They are
cheaper and a lot more effective. There are kids who have drugs on
school property every day. Why don't we do something about that?"

Several parents who spoke at the meeting said they believed the reason
more parents were not at the meeting was the "not my kid" syndrome
parents hide behind.

Asked about parental accountability, Cavanaugh said, "Maine has no
parental accountability statute. If a 17 year old commits a crime,
it's not the parents' fault."

Parent Marcia Rogers said she hoped the committee would come up with
ways to get more parents to participate. She said it is a pervasive
problem in the city.

"I direct a preschool program here in Calais. ... Last spring we were
planting marigolds and the marigolds got [quite tall] and I had a
little three-year-old boy say to me, `My daddy has a lot of those, and
they're all in his bedroom, about a hundred of them.' They were pot
plants. ... This really starts with parents. ... There are other
educators here [at the meeting], ... but where are the parents, and
where are the students?" she asked.

Charlotte resident Wayne Chick said he had been arrested many times
for using drugs and alcohol. He said information was important. "Back
when I was doing drugs, they didn't have any education in the schools.
These beer commercials, they make drinking look like it's cool and
it's great, but when you're worshiping the throne the next morning,
its not that great," he said. Chick urged the school committee to
adopt a major education and information program about drug and alcohol
abuse.

Other suggestions offered Tuesday night were that the new policy
should: apply to all students; provide help for affected students; and
include in-school suspension rather than expulsion.