SUSPENSION ALTERNATIVE ADDRESSES KIDS' DRUG USE

School District 43 is piloting an alternative to suspension program to
help students recognize and seek help for problematic drug use.

On Tuesday, the program, which operates out of Winslow Centre in
Coquitlam, accepted its first six students who were given an
opportunity to examine their drug use and set goals for change.

"This is an alternative to them being sent home," said Paul McNaughton
principal of CABE (Coquitlam Alternative Basic Education), who is
responsible for alternative education programs in the district.

The pilot expands on a program that was introduced at Port Moody
secondary school last spring and will be offered twice a month. Each
class can take up to 12 students and McNaughton said he expects no
trouble filling the program as the district looks to support students
who are in denial about their problematic drug use.

"The statistics suggest we have enough drug-related suspensions to
fill up the program," McNaughton said.

The morning sessions are facilitated by Share Family and Community
Services school-based prevention workers, with the support of a school
counsellor and an itinerant youth worker. In the afternoon, students
are given the choice of either continuing to work on a self-directed
drug intervention activity or completing work assigned by their home
schools.

McNaughton said students are referred to the program after completing
a school-based drug use assessment with a school counsellor and are
expected to do follow-up activities when they return to their school,
with the support of administrators.

"The principals are going to follow up and see how the goals are
going," McNaughton said.

The drug intervention pilot is part of an ongoing effort by SD43 to
seek out alternatives to suspension in which students are typically
sent home for breaching school codes of conduct. Approximately 700
suspensions are handed out annually for various reasons.

McNaughton said the program is geared to students in denial about
their drug use because students who are prepared to accept they may
have a problem have other options, such as seeking counselling through
Share Family and Community Services or through their parents' extended
health programs.