DRUG ARREST CALLED SIGNAL

Principal at East Says Dogs, Officers Help Enforce Rules

Kernersville

Principal Patricia Gainey of East Forsyth High School says it is
unfortunate that a student was arrested on drug charges last week
after a pound of marijuana was found in a car on the school's parking
lot.

But the arrest also sends a message that students and parents need to
hear, Gainey said.

"I think it is a great sign that we are sending the message that
wherever it is, we are going to find it," Gainey said. "It says that
we are drug free and that if you want an education, you are going to
play by our rules or go somewhere else."

[NAME DELETED] , 17, of Kernersville and a senior at the school, was
charged Dec. 8 with possession of marijuana with intent to sell and
maintaining a vehicle for drug purposes, both felonies. The charges
came after a drug dog alerted a Forsyth County deputy to the presence
of the drugs in a car on the parking lot.

Gainey said she saw the drugs after the officers found them.

"The amount was as much as I've ever seen," she said. "In the past, it
has been nothing of the magnitude that we had on Monday."

Gainey said the campus gets periodic searches by an officer with a
drug dog and that "hits" usually take place on the parking lot.

"We are committed to having a drug-free campus and we are going to
have it," Gainey said. "I challenge anybody in the state to have drug
dogs on their campus because I am sure there would be a hit there as
well." The school's resource officer sets up the visit by drug dogs
with the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office, she said.

The school does more than send drug dogs around to sniff out
offenders. Gainey said. East Forsyth High has an active chapter of the
Students Against Violence Everywhere, which has an anti-drug message
as part of the program. "Last year, East won the challenge between
Glenn and East as to who signed the most contracts to be drug free,"
Gainey said.

The school has a Crimestoppers program that encourages students to
report offenders, whether they are using drugs or committing vandalism.

"Most of the students who go to school here want it to be a drug-free
place and want it to be a place that they can be proud of," Gainey
said.

East Forsyth High is also among the top schools in the county for
participation in the "It's My Call" program, which subjects students
to random drug testing.

School officials in Forsyth County say that 83 percent of the students
at East Forsyth High had enrolled in the program, second only to
Carver High School, which had 92 percent of students signed up.

Gainey said she couldn't comment on the student who was arrested but
added that the student has right to due process under the rules
governing suspension. "The unfortunate thing is that this young man
took his education for granted," Gainey said.