BOARD TOLD OF RISE IN SUBSTANCE ABUSE

The Freehold Regional High School District Board of Education was
presented with the district's violence and vandalism report for the
2007-08 school year at its Nov. 17 meeting held at Freehold High
School, Freehold Borough.

State law requires each school board in New Jersey to hold an annual
public hearing in order to discuss the information contained in the
violence and vandalism report.

While the number of vandalism incidents decreased from 47 incidents in
2006-07 to 36 in 2007-08, reports of violence and substance abuse
rose. There were 96 reported incidents of violence in 2007-08, up from
85 incidents in 2006- 07.

Substance abuse incidents totaled 105 for the 2007-08 school year, up
from 77 reported incidents in 2006-07. There were 14 incidents of
weapons reported in 2007-08, up by one incident from the 13 that were
reported in 2006-07.

Assistant Superintendent Patricia Emmerman said principals of the
district's six high schools accurately report the incidents that occur
in the schools.

Among the 96 incidents that fell under the violence category, there
were 20 simple assaults, one sex offense, 20 harassments or threats,
one criminal threat and 54 reported fights. Of the 36 vandalism
incidents, seven were damage to property, one was a fireworks
incident, 23 were reported thefts, one was a burglary and there were
four reported bomb threats.

During the 2007-08 school year, 13 of the weapons incidents were
listed under possession of a weapon, while one was an assault with a
weapon. There were 42 expulsion hearings with the board and 41
discipline hearing with Superintendent of Schools James Wasser during
the 2007- 08 school year.

The portion of the violence and vandalism report that most troubled
board members was the increase in the number of substance abuse
incidents in 2007-08 over 2006-07.

With 28 more incidents of substance abuse reported than the previous
school year, 70 incidents were of students being under the influence,
25 were incidents of possession, and 10 were incidents of
distribution. According to the district's report, the drug with the
highest use was marijuana with 49 reported incidents. Coming in second
was the use of unauthorized prescription drugs, which jumped from nine
incidents in 2006-07 to 24 incidents in 2007-08.

Emmerman said part of the reason why the number of substance abuse
incidents increased from the previous year was because administrators
are catching more students.

"We have a very strong program of identifying students who may be
under the influence," Emmerman told board members.

She explained that if a student is caught under the influence of a
substance three times during the course of his high school career, he
is referred for a disciplinary hearing with the superintendent.

A list of school services was provided so individuals in attendance at
the board meeting could see the type of support options that are
available to students to help them overcome substance abuse issues.

Emmerman also noted that an increase in the number of security cameras
placed throughout the school buildings have caught students in the act
of distributing drugs.

She pointed out that a revised policy which requires students' cell
phones to remain in hallway lockers during the school day has helped
curb incidents of drug exchange in the hallways so far this school
year, as students can no longer communicate with one another to meet
at a certain locale for an exchange of drugs.

To try and bring the numbers down for the 2008-09 school year,
Emmerman said there is a police presence in every school on a daily
basis and said administrators are working to have a school resource
officer (i.e., a full-time police officer) in every building.

There is also a committee in place consisting of school board members,
residents, teachers, nurses and the district's student assistance
counselors to look at the possibility of implementing random drug
screenings in the schools.

Emmerman also noted that the district has a collaboration with the
Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office, as well as with probation and
police officials.

"We feel we're on the right track. Our primary concern is the safety
and wellbeing of our students. And we would hope that through all our
efforts, even though the numbers have been up from the 2006-07 school
year, we would hope that with all of our interventions, next year we
will show a decline in our numbers (for 2008-09)," Emmerman said.

When board members questioned the FRHSD's numbers in comparison to
other school districts, administrators said that was a hard comparison
to make.

Emmerman said some school districts' numbers seem strangely
low.

"I can tell you that from my perspective some of the information that
has been reported is almost laughable. If you have a couple of
thousand middle school students, I don't know how you can come up with
one fight in a year," Emmerman said. "I think the best policy is to be
honest about it, look at it, address it, bring all the resources to
bear and work at it."

Wasser said the FRHSD should compare its own statistics from previous
years and work toward making improvements.

Emmerman said that when taken in the context of 12,000 students in the
FRHSD, the results of the violence and vandalism report are not
catastrophic, although Wasser had noted that even one incident is one
too many.

Colts Neck's representative on the board, Christopher Placitella,
noted that substance abuse does not originate at the high school
level, but research shows it starts in the middle schools.

Emmerman said research indicates that students begin substance abuse
at about the age of 12.

Placitella said he would like to see a program formed with the
elementary school districts to address the problem.

Other members of the board said they believe something must be done on
the middle school level to address the issue.

Wasser said the FRHSD does send high school students to the middle
schools to speak with younger children about substance abuse. It was
stated that having a high school student address a sixth grade pupil
is influential as the sixth-grader would look up to the older student.

Wasser also noted that he could only have a program with school
district administrators who are open to working together to try and
curb the increase in the abuse of prescription drugs.

Placitella questioned how to get the information home to parents, as
board meetings are on average attended by 30 parents.

A program was held in April to address the evolving issue of
prescription drug abuse, but Wasser said that only 30 people were in
attendance at the meeting. He said he has implored parents to take an
inventory of their medicine cabinets to make sure children are not
stealing prescription drugs.

"It's going to be an ongoing battle," Wasser said of the students'
abuse of prescription drugs. He said administrators will do all they
can to address the issue.