DRUG USE AMONG STUDENTS CHURNS FAMILIAR CONCERNS

Surveys Suggest That Substance Abuse Is Lower Here Than
Elsewhere

FRANKLIN - Eleven Ravenwood High School students were caught smoking
pot in March at a YMCA Youth in Government Conference in Nashville.

Nine of those kids were suspended and sent to the district's
Alternative Learning Center for up to a year, a penalty that is in
accordance with board policy and state zero tolerance laws.

Parents of a few of the offenders have appealed the punishment, saying
the students are being denied a proper education. Others questioned
how the students came to admit the deed since there wasn't any
evidence that the kids had actually smoked marijuana. The school board
tomorrow will vote on whether to schedule an appeal hearing.

The event touched off a flurry of concern about the pervasiveness of
drugs in county schools. The incident raised questions about how many
students abuse drugs and alcohol and how easy it is for them to get
it. The answers to those questions depend upon who you ask.

"I do think it's more prevalent than I would have expected, given the
caliber of school that it is and the population in Williamson County,"
said Donna Pappas, whose son is a senior at Ravenwood.

Pappas says her son has chosen to have a "limited" social life because
he's regularly confronted with the pressure to drink or take drugs.
She said her son has acted as a designated driver, offering a sober
ride to friends who chose to indulge.

These days he prefers to spend nights and weekends at home, avoiding
the exposure to illegal activities. To his mother, it feels like he's
being penalized because he doesn't want to have any part of it.

"What concerns me is that so many kids are doing it," Pappas said. "I
know, no matter where you live, your kids are going to be exposed to
it. I just wish there were more kids that had been brought up the same
way."

Student downplays issue

Steven Cook, a junior at Ravenwood who created an online petition
against the school system's zero tolerance policy, said some parents
are blowing things out of proportion.

"I can give you firsthand word that there is no serious drug problem
going on at my school," Cook said. "As far as the latest incident, you
can't stop kids from making dumb decisions at times, just like you
can't stop idiot parents from coming to bogus conclusions about an
entire school having a drug problem just from one incident."

Diane O'Neil, the district's safe- and drug-free-schools coordinator,
said no matter what the perception, the county continues to register
below national averages when it comes to drug and alcohol use among
students.

O'Neil points to a survey students take annually that asks how often
they drink, smoke or partake in illicit drugs. Students in grades 4,
7, 9 and 11 are promised anonymity and the results are typically
released in the fall. A preview of those results shows that among
approximately 1,800 seventh-graders about 16 percent said they had
tried alcohol at least once during the 2007-08 school year.
Additionally, 2.3 percent admitted to having had a drink within 30
days of taking the survey. Similar to adults, alcohol is the No. 1
drug of choice among kids, she said.

These figures are down from the 2006-07 school year, when 19.5 percent
said they had a drink once that year.

Fewer seventh-graders smoked pot. About 2.3 percent said they had
smoked pot at least once last school year. Nearly one percent said
they had smoked marijuana within the past 30 days. These figures are
also down from the previous year. In 2006-07, 2.9 percent said they
had smoked pot at least once that year.

Offenders' numbers differ

Last year, 166 juveniles were charged with drug and alcohol offenses
for the first time and attended a class created to explain the dangers
of addiction. Parents are also asked to attend the class. Students in
the class must take a survey that asks similar questions found on the
districtwide drug survey. According to the results, nearly all of them
said they drank alcohol and 80 percent admitted to using marijuana.
More than 45 percent said they'd taken pills not prescribed by a
doctor and 34 percent said they had sold or "flipped" drugs.

Juvenile Services Director Betsy Adgent said she found it surprising
that only 76 percent of those arrested for using drugs or alcohol said
these items were readily available at school.

"If you exchange money for drugs, then you know a dealer," Adgent
said. "If you took pills that you didn't have a prescription for, then
you know a dealer."

O'Neil says any use is harmful to youngsters' brains. Through various
age-appropriate school programs, counselors and teachers talk to kids
about the effects of drugs and alcohol on developing brains. She said
marijuana is one of the worst because it stays in their systems
longer. It effects motivation and memory, the stuff needed to learn,
she said.

One of the biggest hurdles O'Neil and other counselors battle is
permissive parents and those in denial.

"We are doing as good a job as we can with our piece of the puzzle,"
O'Neil said. "You have the home guardian piece, the community piece
and school. Kids use substances less at school than anywhere else.
What we need far more of is supervision when they are not at school."

Williamson County Juvenile Court Referee Sharon Guffee isn't convinced
that there is a growing problem among county teens. The increase in
juvenile cases appears to be directly proportional to the student
population, she says.

Guffee acts as the judge in juvenile court cases ranging from truancy
to drug and alcohol offenses.

"We do have drugs and they are in every school," Guffee said. "I
couldn't say if any school is worse than the others. It's always a
problem when teens use drugs."