BOARD TALKS ABOUT ARRESTS

Alamance-Burlington school system leaders are moving fast to arrange for
drug treatment and alternative education for students arrested last week in
a system-wide drug operation. Superintendent Jim Merrill announced at a
school board meeting Monday night the schools will be contacting parents of
eligible students as early as Wednesday. Fifty students were arrested last
Wednesday following a five-month undercover drug operation in the system's
six high schools. Merrill said in a press conference that morning the
system would allow some of the students to enroll in an alternative
education program following their suspension from the school they were
attending. Students with prior drug offenses in the school system or who
were already in an alternative program will not be eligible, he said.
Parents of students who qualify will be required to make an appointment for
assessment and treatment at the Alamance-Caswell Mental Health,
Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Authority. The appointment
is required for them to be able to enroll Monday in the alternative
educational program. The program will take place at the school system's
facility on Ray Street in Graham, and will be an extension of the
alternative classes taught at Sellars-Gunn Educational Center. Merrill said
registration will be Monday night. Classes will be held from 4 to 8 p.m.
each Monday through Thursday through a combination of online instruction
and on-site teachers. Instruction will go on into the summer, he said,
depending on how quickly students learn. Students who are seniors will earn
their high school diplomas there and will be graduates of Sellars-Gunn,
rather than the school they were attending. "We are moving quickly,"
Merrill said. "I think our families will appreciate this." The drug
treatment program will require participation of both students and parents,
with the treatment totaling about 12 hours. Merrill said the system will be
encouraging further treatment as students return for the 2004-05 school
year. School board chairman Tom Lambeth said board members were supportive
of Merrill, who approached area law enforcement agencies last year about
starting an undercover operation. Lambeth thanked Merrill for "not being
afraid to be bold when necessary. "It was obvious to all of us last
Wednesday that you were as heartbroken by this as we are," he said. "It's
extremely sad that it's necessary."