SCHOOL OFFERS DRUG TEST KITS TO PARENTS

PENNSVILLE TWP. It's no secret in this day and age that drug problems
exist in just about every high school, leaving many parents with a
helpless feeling as they send their children off each day and begging
the difficult question of "what can we do about it?"

Pennsville Memorial High School may have found a solution.

In a revolutionary initiative brought before district parents Tuesday
night by the Partners in Prevention, 47 home drug-testing kits were given
away in an attempt to immunize families from the kinds of struggles
that accompany this global epidemic.

The kits, developed by Dr. Gianni DeVincent Hayes, founder of American
Drug Testing Consultants, have the ability to test for just about every
recreational street drug available on the market today,
including alcohol. Parents at the presentation and distribution of the
kits on Tuesday said it is something that provides peace of mind for them.

"You know with children, you love them to death but still worry about the
decisions they are making and if you are doing everything you can as a
parent," said Rosemarie Hoffman, a teacher within the district and parent
of two students there one a high school senior and the other an
eighth-grader. "The program does empower us at home, I feel I'll be better
able to control a situation now."

According to Bill Smithoover, the district's Substance Awareness
Coordinator, the idea is for the kits to act as a deterrent for kids who
are thinking of using drugs, giving parents the ability to monitor them
at home and if need be, provide a type of private intervention.

In a very timely display, the distribution of the kits fell on Red Ribbon
Week, a national movement of adults and children united for a drug-free
society.

Smithoover, who initially proposed the idea last spring, said that the
pilot program has seen favorable reactions so far, especially in light of
the alternative that had been tossed around of random drug-testing to be
administered by the school.

"There is a certain fear factor this imposes on children, but its not
meant to be a sneak-attack but just the opposite, it's meant to be out
there in plain view and prevent drug and alcohol use from the beginning,"
Smithoover said. "In social situations I think it provides an out,' kids
being pressured can save face by saying they could get tested and it
would prevent them from being labeled a chicken."

Jody Mortarulo is a mother of two high school students and one middle
school student in the district, all boys. She knows that drug use is a
hidden dilemma with far-reaching ramifications, and that even though
her boys are great students-athletes with great personalities, anyone can
be affected. For her, she went to show her support of the school's
proactive approach and above all, to show her children that she cares.

Smithoover said he hopes that people realize how much the school cares, too.

"I get the sense that Pennsville has as much of a problem as anyone else
does, it would be foolish to say there is any community that doesn't have
their share of drug problems," Smithoover said. "We are willing to admit
that and move forward, move toward an answer that people agree upon."