KELLER GETS MIXED RESULTS ON STUDENT DRUG SURVEYS

KELLER -- Ten percent of Keller and Fossil Ridge high schools' Class of
1998 said they have used heroin, and school district officials attribute
the number to the availability of drugs and a class of students who were "a
little outside the norm."

Among the same students who responded to the voluntary survey in April, 15
percent said they tried cocaine, 22 percent tried hallucinogens and 51
percent tried marijuana.

But school district officials said that despite increased use of a variety
of drugs, most categories in the survey showed a decrease during the
1997-98 school year. The numbers show that the district is gaining ground
in its fight against substance abuse, they say, despite survey results for
the Class of 1998.

"Every grade has its own personality," said Bill Newton, director of
administration and student services. "Unfortunately, for whatever reason,
that group, even when they were 10th-graders and eighth-graders, were a
little outside the norm."

The survey will not prompt the district to adopt new anti-drug policies
such as mandatory drug testing for students wishing to participate in
extracurricular activities, Superintendent Charles Bradberry said. But
Bradberry said he would like to increase drug education programs and have
campuses visited more often by dogs trained to detect drugs.

"I'm a proponent of drug dogs," he said. "It gives the good kids an out.
They can say, `I don't want it. They may have drug dogs checking today.' "

The figures come from a biennial district survey that students answer
anonymously in grades six and eight through 12. The survey, filled out by
50 percent of students in those grades, will be presented to school
district trustees Monday.

"In general, the trend here in the district is that drug and alcohol use is
declining," Newton said. "There are categories where that is absolutely not
true. But overall, I think we are making a lot of progress. Of course we
won't be happy until we have a zero in every category."

The survey reported that:

* Alcohol -- From 1996 to 1998, the number of sixth-graders who had tried
alcohol decreased to 38 percent from 41 percent. That number also dropped
for ninth- and 10th-graders. But for eighth-graders, the number increased
to 66 percent from 63 percent. And 11th-graders had a 1 percent increase to
83 percent.

* Marijuana -- The number of sixth-graders who had tried marijuana
decreased to 3 percent from 6 percent. The only increases were among
ninth-graders, who went to 29 percent from 26 percent, and 12th-graders,
who went to 51 percent from 47 percent.

* Cocaine -- The number of students who had tried cocaine decreased for
eighth- and 11th-graders. For sixth-graders, the number increased to 2
percent from 1 percent. For 10th-graders, it increased to 9 percent from 6
percent.

* Heroin -- The district didn't survey heroin use in 1996, but in 1998 the
numbers of students who had tried the drug were 1 percent in sixth-grade, 4
percent in eighth-grade, 3 percent in ninth- and 10th-grades, 4 percent in
11th-grade and 10 percent in 12th-grade.

Heroin use has skyrocketed in Northeast Tarrant County during the past two
years. According to a recent report by the Tarrant County Narcotics
Intelligence and Coordination Unit, there were 37 heroin overdoses between
Oct. 6, 1996, and Nov. 13 this year. Of those, 20 of the users died and
most were from Northeast Tarrant County.

The district is helping Keller Police Chief Bill Griffith search for a more
comprehensive plan to replace the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program
now in place for most of the district's fifth-graders.

D.A.R.E was dropped from Fossil Hill Middle School by the Fort Worth Police
Department because it was considered too expensive. Griffith also
complained about D.A.R.E.'s cost in June when he asked Keller school
trustees to consider replacing the program with something more
comprehensive to be used on more grade levels.

The survey's numbers give no reason for dropping those efforts, he said.
"What we are seeing in juvenile enforcement efforts, traffic stops, arrests
say we've got a growing problem," Griffith said. "I think we need to
definitely quit trying to minimize the problem and begin to recognize it as
a growing problem that we need to address."

School district and police officials said their organizations cannot defeat
the drug problems. Both said they need help from the community.

"We need a two-pronged attack," Griffith said. "We need to get more grade
levels involved on the educational prevention side and we also need to get
the parents and the community involved."

Checked-by: Richard Lake