BOARD TO TACKLE DRUG POLICIES

Area school leaders say they hope new policies and programs will help
them combat teenage drug and tobacco use.

Members of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education will discuss
revisions to the district's policies on substance abuse and tobacco
products Thursday.

The review is the result of an almost yearlong process.

In March, the city schools' drug abuse task force began reviewing the
district's policies.

Task force members included teachers, principals, coaches and law
enforcement officials.

Some of their recommendations include alternatives to out-of-school
suspension and the use of random drug testing.

But Stephanie Willis, the district's health services coordinator, said
that drug testing - a controversial issue - is not included in the new
policy.

"There's a lot of interest in it, but that is not being provided as
part of the policy at this moment," she said.

Chapel Hill High School junior Vanessa Bezy said drug testing should
be a part of the policy.

"I think saying (school officials) will drug test people will have
more of an effect," she said.

Under the revised policy, schools now press criminal charges against
students who are caught using controlled substances on school grounds.

"There is a strong component of law enforcement in the policy," Willis
said.

First-time offenders also will lose campus driving privileges for 90
days, spend five days in in-school suspension or Saturday school and
will be removed from all extra- and co-curricular activities for 10
days.

"If students want to do drugs, then they shouldn't be able to
participate in extracurricular activities," said Kasey Blitchington, a
freshman at Chapel Hill High.

But Willis said the new policy also emphasizes ways to rehabilitate
repeat offenders, including two programs directed toward teens who use
tobacco products.

Those programs are a collaborative effort among the Chapel
Hill-Carrboro City and Orange County school systems and the Orange
County Health Department.

The Alternative to Suspension Program gives students who violate
district policies on at-school tobacco use twice the option to attend
four informational sessions instead of facing in-school or
out-of-school suspensions.

Blitchington said she thinks students still should be
suspended.

But other students disagree.

"Suspension has been around so long that it doesn't really scare
people," Bezy said.

Both districts also will work together in implementing the Not On
Tobacco Program - a voluntary program for students who are addicted to
tobacco products and are ready to quit.

Last fall, teachers and administrators were trained in how to
administer the program, which relies heavily on in-school advertising
and peer education to recruit students.

According to a press release, all county secondary schools have staff
members trained in the program.

Willis said that while the tobacco program has been in area schools
for several years, it will see increased attention in the future.

"We've had the ability to teach (Not on Tobacco) for a few years, but
they are really going to be recruiting kids to quit," she said.