ONE IN 10 SUSPENDED AT HIGH SCHOOL

A substance abuse and suspensions report brought before the school
board on Wednesday may provide some insight as to the number of
students using drugs, but it certainly doesn't tell the whole story,
according to school trustees.

In 2003, there were 165 drug-related suspensions (ranging from one day
to indefinite) at the secondary level, 17 of which involved repeat
offenders. There were six drug-related suspensions at the elementary
level.

From September to December of 2004, there were 72 drug-related
suspensions at the secondary level, two of which involved repeat
offenders. There were none at the elementary level.

Alcohol related-suspensions were charted separately and in 2003, there
were 19 at the secondary level and one at the elementary level. From
September to December of 2004, there were two at the secondary level
and none at the elementary level. There are close to 6,000 students at
the secondary level in School District 42 and over 9,000 students at
the elementary level.

"It's important to look at the overall numbers of the student
population; it's not as prevalent as some would have you believe,"
said district 42 superintendent Marjatta Longston.

The numbers may ring positive to some, however trustee Katherine
Wagner wasn't too impressed with the fact that a tenth of secondary
students were being suspended.

"You still have 10 per cent of secondary students getting suspended
and that to me is a significant number," said Wagner.

In general, the overall (drug-related, snowball throwing, smoking,
etc.) number of suspensions has stayed the same or even decreased over
the last decade. For example, the number of secondary suspensions
lasting 10 days and under was at 1,000 in 1994.

In 2003 that number dropped to 779 and from September to December of
2004 the number was at 290.

"There's a less punitive approach as opposed to a more remedial
approach," said assistant superintendent Lindy Jones, who compiled the
numbers for the school board.

While the figures include all schools within the district, Jones
circulated an email to all schools within the district asking for any
information on drug awareness programs they were running.

All secondary schools use counseling and referrals to Alouette Drug
and Alcohol Counseling and all secondary schools bring in guest
speakers to address the issues.

At the elementary level, 13 of 22 schools responded and 10 of those 13
have the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program in place at
either the Grade 5 or Grade 6 level.

There are currently four RCMP school liaison officers in place, who
are also a valuable asset in the battle to keep drugs out of schools.
The district used to have five officers, however one position was
dropped as a result of cutbacks.

"They're valuable not only in prevention but when a child is a
first-time offender they spend a lot of time with counseling the
parents," said Jones.

The substance abuse and prevention report was brought to the board
after trustee Chris Luke reiterated the notion that the district needs
to find some way to gauge just how serious the drug problem is and
then come up with a comprehensive district-wide strategy linked to
providing district staff and teachers with the necessary resources to
deal with the problem.

Luke's idea is nothing new, the district has long been looking for a
more comprehensive strategy to deal with the situation.

"On the percentages, it doesn't look like much, but suspensions are
only one indicator," said Luke. "I'm looking for a more critical
assessment of the depth of the problem, I don't believe that's the
percentage of kids using drugs, it's more rampant than that."

According to school board chair Cheryl Ashlie, it's virtually
impossible to round up enough information to have an exact definition
of just how extensive the problem of drugs in schools really is.

"We don't keep track of a student that just leaves our system and
never gets suspended or a student that goes from an A average to a C
average... there's so many mitigating factors," said Ashlie.

Ashlie would like to see the district have a strategy in place at
every grade and put more resources towards helping staff achieve their
preventative and educational goals in terms of a school-based drug
strategy. Ashlie is of the belief that the district's school-based
counselors like Hazel Neill need to be armed with more than just
pea-shooters.

"They're anxious to do a body of work in the schools and we need to
give them the resources to do this," said Ashlie.