PARENTS ON DRUGS MAY BE BARRED BY SCHOOLS

PARENTS who are considered to be under the influence of drugs may be
banned from picking their children up from school under proposals
issued by the Scottish Executive yesterday.

The recommendations were made by the School Drug Safety team which was
set up by the Executive following an alarming increase of drug-related
incidents in primary schools.

This year, one seven-year-old boy in Stirling handed over his mother's
supply of heroin to a teacher claiming it was killing her. One
11-year-old boy at a Glasgow primary school was caught last year with
more than ?500 worth of heroin stuffed in his shoe, which he claimed
to be delivering to an addict for his father.

Yesterday's proposals put the onus on teachers to ensure that no drugs
are sold in or near school, with staff being warned they will be
breaking the law if they turn a blind eye to dealing. It will also
fall to them to guard against parents on drugs.

Teachers would be given lessons on handling incidents involving drugs,
which may include medical emergencies. Each school should have its own
set of clearly defined regulations and policies on tackling drugs.
Pupils found using or selling drugs would have the incident kept on
their records for up to five years.

Yesterday Angus MacKay, deputy justice minister, said the majority of
children will go through school without ever being involved in any
incidents of drug misuse. "However," he added, "it is important to
ensure that when such incidents do occur, parents and pupils can be
confident they will be dealt with quickly and effectively. This means
ensuring teachers are well-prepared and well-equipped to respond to
information, allegations or evidence that children, or their parents,
are misusing drugs."

Sam Galbraith, minister for children and education, said: "It is very
important that parents know that procedures are in place to deal with
any drug misuse incident which might occur while their child is at
school. Drawing up guidelines to apply throughout the country will
mean a consistent approach in every Scottish school which ensures the
safety and welfare of every child."

Ronnie Smith, general secretary of the Educational Institute of
Scotland, the country's leading teachers' union, urged caution over
some of the specifics. He said: "We welcome clarification and support
for teachers in connection with handling incidents but the details
need to be studied closely. We would not for example want to encourage
teachers to go outside a school and tell a drug dealer to push off,
given the connotations of violence these people have.

"Above all I hope that the regulations are not too rigid and there
will remain some scope for teachers to make a professional judgment
depending on the circumstances that they are faced with when handling
a given situation."

A helpline for people who provide or receive special educational needs
services was launched yesterday.

The Scottish Executive is providing ?621,000 over three years for the
Enquire project, which will be run by Children in Scotland.