DRUGS GO TO SCHOOL WITH THE YOUNGEST

Phila. Cases Like The 7-Year-Old's Are Not So Rare

As police tried to determine how a second grader obtained the dozen
bags of cocaine she carried Monday to her elementary school in
Southwest Philadelphia, a check of school district statistics
suggested that the incident was hardly an aberration.

Although elementary students account for only a small percentage of
drug-related reports in city schools, the number appears to be
increasing. At the current pace, the total this school year could
surpass last year's, according to school district data.

Seventeen students from kindergarten through sixth grade were
involved in drug or alcohol incidents at their schools through
Christmas, compared with 26 in the entire 2004-05 academic year,
data collected by the state's Office of the Safe Schools Advocate show.

Heroin was discovered in the pocket of a kindergartner. A second
grader took a bag of suspected cocaine to class.

At Patterson Elementary School, where this week's case occurred,
drug-awareness assemblies are scheduled today for all five
second-grade classrooms.

"We have a serious drug problem in many of our communities, and
ultimately what is happening in the communities filters into the
schools," said Paul Vallas, the schools' chief executive. "If you
have drugs lying around, kids are going to eventually put it into
their pockets and take it to school."

Most of the reported cases involved students who brought drugs,
rather than alcohol, to school, he said.

Nearly all the reported incidents since 2001-02 occurred at
elementary schools; nine of the young students were found with drugs
or alcohol on high school grounds.

Although concerned, Vallas said he did not believe the problem had increased.

"We are probably on pace to equal the number of incidents last
year," he said. "Obviously, some of the cases are a bit more
sensational, but I don't think we are seeing an uptick."

Recent cases included four second graders at Elkin Elementary School
in Kensington who were treated at Children's Hospital of
Philadelphia after one took a plastic bag containing suspected
cocaine to school in early December.

Once the bag was cut open, the powder flew into the air and got on
the children's hands and pants. The second grader told officials
that he had found the bag on the street on his way to school.

And in October, a teacher at Richmond School in Port Richmond found
eight bags of heroin in a kindergartner's pocket. The city's
Department of Human Services determined that there were problems in
the child's home and took temporary custody.

Vallas said the 7-year-old who had the cocaine in pink plastic bags
in her book bag Monday would be kept home from Patterson for the
rest of the week to shield her from the hubbub.

The girl told school officials that she had found the bags in her book bag.

"She is not being suspended," Vallas said. "We have talked to her
guardian, and we have decided to keep the child home for the child's
own well-being."

The child is scheduled to return to school Monday with her
grandmother, the guardian.

"The child is as much a victim as her classmates, teachers and
school staff," Vallas said. "The real crime was committed by the
person who placed narcotics in the reach of a second grader."

A search of the grandmother's home Tuesday evening turned up no
evidence that drugs were stored or sold there, Capt. Benjamin Naish,
a police spokesman, said yesterday.

Authorities said they believed the drugs were put in the book bag Friday.

"She discovered the bags when she was getting ready to go over to a
friend's house for a sleepover," Naish said, adding that the girl
apparently had not known what they contained.

The girl told her grandmother that she had found something "that did
not belong there," said Lt. John Walker of the Southwest Detective
Division. It was unclear what the girl said to the grandmother
Friday and how the grandmother responded, he said.

Walker also said that the home had been unlocked that day and that
authorities wanted to speak to some teenagers who had access to the residence.

After receiving a call from school officials, the Department of
Human Services has begun "an investigation to determine whether this
child is living in a safe environment," spokesman Ted Qualli said.
"Children's safety is always our paramount concern."

Outside Patterson yesterday afternoon, just about every parent was
talking about the case.

Most expressed anger at the school for not alerting them earlier.
Letters were sent home with students Tuesday.

Home and School Association president Dottie Polsz said
administrators appeared to have handled the situation well. She said
they had been discreet, appeared to have been thorough, and could
not have notified parents any quicker than they did.

"You figure everything happened Monday afternoon. It was almost the
very end of the day," Polsz said. "The fact we were notified the
very next day, I think, was appropriate."

Those who regularly pick up their children from the school said they
had known something was out of kilter Tuesday when television trucks
lined 70th Street, where the children exit.

Parents said the Tuesday letter, which said a student had taken a
powdery substance into the school, had led them to talk to their
children about not accepting anything, including snacks, from anyone
they didn't know - even other children.

Akia Harris said she had daily conversations with her daughter, a
first grader, about avoiding strangers.

"I see it all over the other schools," she said. "I just thank God
that I talk to her."

But, Harris said, a talk specifically about drugs was forced too early.

"How do you explain about drugs to a kid in the first grade?" she asked.

While James Baker waited to pick up his three children, he, too,
talked with others about the implications of what had happened at the school.

"You have kids being raised by kids," he said. "The only thing
that's surprising to me is that it happened at the school my kids go to."