SCHOOLS TARGET CRIME

Tips From Students, Increased Vigilance Help In Fight To Keep Kids Safe

GASTONIA - Five years ago, an officer working undercover at
Cherryville High School arrested five students who allegedly sold
drugs to him.

Now, Principal Steve Huffstetler says Cherryville students are
unlikely to hide a marijuana cigarette on campus without him knowing
about it. That's because he pays students $100 for tips that lead to
arrests. Student-run anti-drug and anti-crime clubs raise the money.

Huffstetler's approach to fighting crime is just one way Gaston
elementary, middle and high schools have been working to reduce crimes
in schools.

Other principals enlist students' help in other ways. Student-run
clubs such as Silence Hurts and Students Against Violence Everywhere
campaign to get students to tell teachers and administrators about
weapons or drugs in their schools.

While crime is down overall in schools statewide and in Gaston,
Lincoln and Kings Mountain, some crimes such as possession of illegal
drugs or weapons and assaults on school personnel remain problems,
according to the state's 2003 School Violence and Crime Report,
released earlier this month.

Drugs continue to be a problem at the high schools, where more than 40
of the 54 drug-related arrests were made in 2002-03. Principals said
they periodically use police dogs to sniff for drugs but rely most
heavily on tips from students.

At Cherryville High, marijuana and Xanax are the most commonly
confiscated drugs, Huffstetler said.

He said a student tip about three weeks ago helped him catch a student
with marijuana.

A tipster told him another student had hidden a marijuana cigarette
under a tarp near a bush, so Huffstetler and an assistant principal
staked out the bush until the student returned to it after school.
Then they busted the student with the drugs and sent the tipster a
check.

East Gaston Principal Eddie McGinnis said most of the students he
catches with drugs have painkillers and other prescription drugs they
find at home.

"Our approach is basically just keeping our ears open," McGinnis said.
"Sometimes we'll confiscate notes that give indications of any drug
that might be in anyone's possession."

McGinnis and teachers also watch for signals in students' body
language, eyes and speech that might reveal drug or alcohol use.

"We haven't had a big problem with (alcohol)," he said. "But it
usually tells on itself. They come and they smell like they've been
drinking, and they'll say something stupid to the teacher."

Last year, Gaston found beer and other forms of alcohol seven times at
five high school campuses -- Ashbrook, Cherryville, East Gaston,
Hunter Huss and South Point. The district only had two incidents the
previous year, one each at South Point and East Gaston.

Students caught with drugs or alcohol at Gaston schools are criminally
charged and can be suspended from school for five to 10 days. A
student is guaranteed no more than five days' suspension if he or she
goes through a substance abuse program. Most students opt for the
longer suspension, Huffstetler said.

While most drug and alcohol incidents were reported in high schools
over the last two years, elementary and middle schools report more
weapons on campus and assaults on school personnel.

Students in the kindergarten through the eighth grade are about twice
as likely as high school students to bring weapons (other than guns)
to school. And they're three times more likely to hit their teachers
or other school personnel.

One reason for the relatively low number of weapons in high schools
may be that Gaston high school students have to pass through metal
detectors each morning before class. The schools also randomly search
cars.

Only five weapons were confiscated from area high schools in 2002-03,
down from eight the previous year. Meanwhile, more than 20 weapons
found their way into area elementary and middle schools last school
year.

Elementary and middle schools don't have walk-through metal detectors
at their doors. Each of Gaston's middle schools has hand-held metal
detectors that are used for random searches, school officials said.

Hunter Huss High Principal Hugh Wallace said he confiscated far more
weapons from students when he was an assistant principal at a middle
school than he has as a high school principal.

In two years at a Gastonia middle school, Wallace and another
assistant principal collected a satchel filled with more than 150
knives and other weapons, including a set of brass knuckles, he said.
But he said parents shouldn't worry because most incidents don't
involve any malice on the student's part.

"It's because kids are curious," he said. "They'll see things their
daddy or brother has. They pick them up, carry them to school to show
folks."

Wallace caught one student at Hunter Huss with a knife last year and
had no reports of guns at the school.

"One time, we found three hunting knives in a student's bag from when
he went hunting over the weekend," Wallace said. "He was as surprised
as we were when they came out of the bag."

Still, Wallace encourages his staff to be vigilant about talking to
students about any simmering problems on campus.

Huss reported more criminal incidents than any other Gaston school in
2002-03, and also had one of the most serious incidents when a female
student reported being sexually assaulted in a classroom by five male
classmates following a pep rally. Charges were dropped in May against
the three students charged as adults. It was unclear what happened
with the two charged as juveniles.

Wallace said the incident occurred while most students and staff were
outside for the pep rally. Since then, he makes sure teachers and
administrators monitor students more closely during schoolwide events,
he said.

Wallace also has been lobbying for more cameras in his hallways and
parking lots. Wallace wants to add 16 to the 16 already in place.

Wallace also relies heavily on his school's student-run anti-crime
groups. Programs such as Silence Hurts and Students Against Violence
Everywhere campaign to make criminal behavior uncool and unpopular, he
said.

An e-mail tip to South Point High School's Silence Hurts program
helped police find a .22-caliber rifle in a student's truck last
school year. It was the only gun found on any campus in Gaston,
Lincoln and Kings Mountain schools.

Silence Hurts is a program developed after the 1999 Columbine High
School shootings to encourage students to tell adults about weapons
and other problems at school.

While anti-crime clubs and technology such as surveillance equipment
help decrease crime, Wallace said he still encourages his staff to get
to know each student well and help them when they need help.

"What I teach my staff is to isolate, de-escalate and correct,"
Wallace said. "Instead of jacking it up you take it down. If you can
work on a single problem, you are much less likely to have a bigger
one."