E'TOWN HIGH PRINCIPAL DIDN'T LOOK THE OTHER WAY

Neither Should The Rest Of Us

Knowing when to ask for help is a sign of character that sets some
professionals in any endeavor apart from others.

We don't know all the details, but it's safe to assume that calling in
law enforcement officials to investigate suspected drug activity at
Elizabethtown High School likely was one of the toughest decisions
Principal Ruth Sorace, a committed career educator, will ever have to
make.

She had a choice: Look the other way in blissful naivete, or take
action to protect her students and get help for those she suspected
were involved with illegal drugs. It took uncommon courage and a keen
sense of what is best for her high school, her students and for her
community.

Sorace made the right decision. The first step toward solving any
problem is to admit there is one.

Suspecting drugs in her school, Sorace asked state troopers to roam
the grounds Friday to see what they could find. Drug-sniffing dogs
scoped out bags of marijuana, a crack pipe and other paraphernalia.
Five students were charged as a result.

If anything, Sorace deserves a debt of gratitude from students,
parents and the community. Illegal drugs, as some are saying, indeed
might be everywhere, in every school in the United States, including
Hardin County, hidden in lockers, stuffed in bookbags, stashed in
bathrooms. But that doesn't mean we should surrender to the drug culture.

Sorace says that if students are involved with drugs, "We don't want
them on our campus or in our hallways." We say, amen.

At least three other schools in Hardin County responded to an offer by
the Kentucky State Police to search their premises with drug-sniffing
dogs. We wonder why more haven't taken the KSP up on its offer. And
when they will.

This incident, embarrassing as it might be to the school system,
should be a wake-up call for educators, parents and conscientious
students throughout Hardin County. Yes, if it can happen at
Elizabethtown High School, which excels academically and athletically,
it can happen anywhere.

Now it is incumbent upon Elizabethtown and Hardin County school
officials to make a positive out of what they might be regarding now
as nothing but negative publicity. Don't withhold any details; trust
the public with all the information necessary to understand the need
for action and begin a dialogue.

This is an opportunity for the whole community to focus on the reality
of illegal drug use among our youngest and most vulnerable citizens.

And to say thanks to Ruth Sorace.