MEDINA BOARD PRESIDENT RESPONDS

As Board President for Medina Independent School District, I would
like to respond to the article in the Bandera Bulletin last week
titled, "Medina ISD denies lax drug policy enforcement."

I have been a board member at Medina ISD for the past seven years and
the last two as board president. During this time I have been
involved in approving, reviewing and revising our drug, alcohol and
tobacco policies as well as our drug and alcohol awareness programs
and prevention measures. As a board member, I have also been advised
by the administrators whenever drug and alcohol violations have
occurred at school or school related activities. Student discipline
records, however, are confidential and therefore the student body
and community are not directly aware of disciplinary action taken
with individual students.

I have complete confidence that our administrators have acted
promptly and effectively each time that they become aware of factual
information relating to alcohol, tobacco and drug violations. The
problem with the accusations made by Ms. Swander and Mr. Cohn is
that they have not shared names or situations with our
administrators. The statement, "Everybody knows about it," doesn't
hold water with me. That statement actually contradicts Ms. Swander's
statement that she has not personally seen the substance abuse. Which
is it?

Our district utilizes drug dogs, Drug and Alcohol Resistance
Education (D.A.R.E.) training, other drug and alcohol awareness
training and schedules multiple activities during drug-free schools
week as deterrents and education against drug and alcohol use.

If you have specific information or concerns about substance abuse at
Medina ISD, I encourage you to talk to Mr. Moczygemba. The phone
number is 830-589-2855. His e-mail address is randym@medinaisd.org
and his door is always open to anyone.

Robert DeLeon