TULLAHOMA SCHOOLS' DRUG PROBLEM NO WORSE THAN ANYWHERE ELSE

How bad are drugs in schools? No worse than anywhere else in the
country according to educators in both Tullahoma city and Coffee
County schools.

At Tullahoma schools, Wayland Long, director of personnel, says "there
is definitely a problem" with drugs, however the schools have K-12
programs in place to discourage the use of drugs.

Long says drug use is widespread nationally, statewide, in rural,
suburban and urban school systems but teachers and administrators do
what they can.

Tullahoma High School was one of the first in the state to begin
mandatory drug testing of athletes. All student athletes are tested at
the beginning of the school year and there are random tests throughout
the semester.

THS Principal Greg Carter says there are other elements at work within
the school system to educate students about the dangers and the
consequences of drug use.

There are two required courses on health and wellness at THS with a
major component being drug-use prevention.

Carter also praised another class on wise choices. "It helps students
learn how to make the right choice when it comes to drug and alcohol
use," he said.

Long says typically the school will have between three to five
expulsions a year for drug use, which must be reported to the state
under its zero tolerance suspension policy.

Historically THS has not had a "school resource officer," but
essentially a police officer assigned to patrol the school and parking
lot and empowered to make arrests on school grounds.

Tullahoma Police Sgt. Mike Mann was hired to teach two courses on law
enforcement at THS this year and act as an "informal" resource officer
but he resigned after three weeks. For now there are no plans to add
another resource officer at THS.

Coffee County Central High School added a school resource officer
about three years ago and a second started at the middle school a year
later.

Coffee County's deputy director of schools Kenny Casteel calls their
work "invaluable" in making schools safer and drug free.

Casteel says the resource officers patrol the hallways and parking
lots constantly. They get to know the students and over time a mutual
bridge of trust and respect grows.

Sometimes it is easier for a student to talk with a resource officer
one-on-one than with a teacher who has to monitor 20 or more students
in a classroom.

Central High typically will have four to five drug-related expulsions
in a school year, but last year there were 15. Casteel, who was at the
school during that time, credits the school resource officer and
students who came forward, with discovering a second set of
drug-related violations.

The school was investigating a potential drug problem, when the
officer, acting on student contacts, discovered there were actually
two different sets of students involved in drugs. As a result the
numbers jumped, Casteel said, but the two sets of expulsions helped
keep more illegal drugs out of the school.