‘20,000 EXPELLED FOR DRINK OR DRUGS'

UP TO 20,000 children are suspended or expelled each year over drugs,
drink or smoking incidents, drug campaigners said yesterday.

The Standing Conference on Drug Abuse (Scoda) said schools were too
quick to throw out children if they were found with illegal drugs, and
urged teachers to make every effort to keep offenders in mainstream
classes.

The "drugs tsar", Keith Hellawell, will launch a series of guidelines
for dealing with drug incidents today. He said that counselling or
specially written behaviour "contracts" could prove more effective in
many cases than calling in the police or the "ultimate sanction" of
expulsion. A survey of 1,100 schools, done by research-ers at
Manchester Metropolitan University, found that 1,800 children had been
excluded from school on a temporary or permanent basis in the past two
years.

Roger Howard, the Scoda chief executive, said the same trend repeated
across the country would produce 10,000 to 20,000 exclusions a year.

He said: "Schools may be resorting to suspension or expulsion
immediately after a drug-related incident, when a different course of
action might be more appropriate. We want a guarantee that the school
has tried everything else first."

Existing Government guidelines say head teachers would not normally be
expected to expel a pupil for a first-time drug offence and recommend
a suspension. Teachers are told to inform police of drug-related
incidents, but the guidelines say the extent of officers' involvement
should be worked out between police and schools.

Nigel de Gruchy, the general secretary of the National Association of
Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, said the survey greatly
overestimated the scale of the problem.

He said: "In most cases of exclusion there has been a build up.
Exclusion is appropriate as a way of saying that drugs are not tolerated."

John Dunford, the general secretary of the Secondary Heads
Association, which opens its annual conference today, defended the
right of heads to expel offenders. He said: "There are a considerable
number of people excluded for drugs-related incidents, either legal or
illegal drugs. It's a problem for schools and one they have to deal
with.

"If somebody brought drugs into schools and was selling them, there is
no question that the head would be fully justified in doing an
immediate permanent exclusion. We take a tough line and it's right to
do so. Parents have a right to expect that when they send their
children to school it is a drug-free zone. Schools that care for their
reputation will want to ensure that is the case."