BECTON TEACHERS TO LEARN TO SPOT DRUG USERS

Teachers at Henry P. Becton Regional High School soon will become pupils
themselves: They will get lessons in how to spot drug users. Superintendent
Samuel Feldman announced Wednesday night that teachers in the Grade 9 to 12
district will undergo training on how to identify students who use drugs
and what they can do to help.

Depending on the availability of police officers with expertise in juvenile
drug use, Feldman said, the half day of training would be this month or in
January. "It's been a while since we've done the program," Feldman said.
"It's always good to have a refresher."

The last teacher drug-awareness training sessions were five years ago.

Feldman said he is reviving the program in response to a report Wednesday
in The Record in which police said students at Becton and Bergen County
Technical High School had been buying drugs from a man officers have
accused of running one of the biggest drug operations in southern Bergen
County.

Feldman said he did not know how many Becton students, if any, had been
involved with Carlos Cardenas, 19, who was arrested last week and charged
with selling drugs to an undercover agent.

Cardenas was arrested at his parents' home on Monroe Street on Nov. 24 on
drug-distribution charges, including selling cocaine and marijuana. He was
also charged with employing a juvenile in a drug-distribution scheme, which
carries a potential five-to 10-year prison term.

"Nobody was absent [Wednesday]. Nobody is in detention," Feldman said.
"They may not be any of our kids."

A 15-year-old from Carlstadt was arrested Nov. 24 when the Bergen County
Prosecutor's narcotics task force concluded its four-month investigation of
Cardenas.

The 15-year-old boy had been charged last month in East Rutherford with
possessing 53 bags of marijuana, police said. It was unclear Wednesday
whether the juvenile is a Becton student.

Feldman said local police officers will instruct teachers to be on the
lookout for the warning signs of drug use. Some signs are obvious, such as
drowsiness and profuse sweating.

"Some of it is common sense," Feldman said.

School board President John Ondrof said it is important that teachers
recognize the signs. He also contended that none of the alleged drug
activity associated with Cardenas took place on school grounds.

"It wasn't a drug bust. It wasn't a problem here on the site," Ondrof said.

The school serves students from East Rutherford and Carlstadt. Both towns
have DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) programs, which police officers
and educators say are effective.

"People are still going to make mistakes," said East Rutherford police
Capt. Larry Minda, who runs his town's DARE program. "You can give somebody
all the information in the world. It comes to a point that you recognize in
some cases you're not going to win."

Minda also pointed out that the town has not had other problems often
associated with growing drug use. For example, he said, East Rutherford has
not had a rash of break-ins by drug users desperate for cash.

On average, the veteran officer said, East Rutherford averages five to 10
juvenile drug arrests yearly. That number, he said, does not include
arrests involving alcohol.

Carlstadt police did not immediately return calls Wednesday seeking
comment. Earlier this week, Carlstadt Detective John Occhiuzzo III said the
arrest of Cardenas will make drugs less accessible and save lives.

Carlstadt Mayor William Roseman said the news of the drug arrest and
student involvement was disheartening. He said parents need to talk to
their children about drugs.

"I've always been a believer that it starts in the home first," Roseman said.

Meanwhile, school officials were disappointed that more positive news about
the school stays under the wraps. They pointed out that Becton had the
first computer class in Bergen County and offers nearly a dozen advance
placement classes, which allow students to earn college credit.