SUSPENDED STUDENTS ENROLLING IN PROGRAM

BURLINGTON -- More than half the Alamance County high school students
arrested for selling drugs to undercover police officers have enrolled in
an alternative education program, Superintendent James Merrill said.

Merrill's remarks came a day after a community meeting Monday during which
community member Patsy Simpson said the school system was treating the
students suspended for selling drugs differently than other suspended
students. Merrill said he wouldn't comment about things said in a meeting
he didn't attend. The community meeting was held at the same time as a
regularly-scheduled school board meeting.

Merrill declined to say exactly how many of the 49 suspended students were
in the alternative education program. It was offered to all students who
didn't have a prior drug offense in the school system and weren't already
in an alternative education program because of a previous suspensions.
Students and their parents had to agree to undergo drug counseling to enroll.

"We're really pleased with how well the students are responding," Merrill
said. "The parents, by and large, seem extremely grateful."

Six students who are eligible to enroll in the alternative education
program still hadn't as of Tuesday evening, Merrill said. Today is the last
day for those students to enroll.

Undercover officers working for the Alamance County Sheriff's Department
and the Graham and Burlington police departments enrolled as students at
Alamance County's six high schools and Sellars-Gunn Education Center last
August. They bought drugs -- mostly small amounts of marijuana but also
cocaine and prescription drugs -- from students. Students were arrested in
all of the district's high schools except Western Alamance High School,
where the undercover officer's identity was discovered.

All of the students arrested Feb. 4 face at least a long-term suspension --
longer than 10 days. School administrators have said students with prior
drug violations on campus or who were already suspended could be expelled.
That decision belongs to the school board.

Three-member panels of school board members will begin hearing appeals on
March 3 and March 8 from 21 students.

According to a memo distributed to board members Monday night, the requests
for appeals hearings are "mainly of students who have admitted guilt but
are seeking a reduction in their suspensions."

Students who remain in long-term suspension, provided they don't graduate
first or have further disciplinary action taken against them, should be
able to return to regular classes in August. Under state law and the
Alamance-Burlington School System's Student Code of Conduct, long-term
suspensions can't extend beyond the end of the school year.

Students enrolled in the alternative education program use NovaNET
educational software from 4 to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, with
oversight from two teachers. Each night focuses on a different subject,
such as mathematics or English/language arts, Merrill said. The coursework
is self-paced.

"The burden for future success is correctly placed on the students,"
Merrill said.

Seniors could earn enough credits to graduate this year. Their high school
diplomas would show they had graduated from the high school they used to
attend, not the alternative education program, which is at a facility in
Graham.

Those students wouldn't be allowed to participate in their high school's
graduation ceremonies, Merrill said.