OS SCHOOLS TO CONSIDER NEW POLICY FOR DRUG OFFENDERS

OCEAN SPRINGS - Local school board members want to give
administrators some leeway in disciplining first-time drug offenders
caught with small amounts of drugs.

The board held a first reading of a new policy that will allow
administrators to send students who have violated the drug policy to
the alternative school for a period of 18 weeks to 36 weeks.

A proposed policy has to undergo at least two readings before it can
be made official policy of the school board.

Under the current zero-tolerance policy, any students violating the
drug policy are sent to the alternative school for one year. Students
can petition for a reduction, but must spend 85 percent of the school
year at the alternative school.

Superintendent Robert Hirsch said alternative school has a negative
connotation for students. He said students and their families are
shame when a student is sent to the alternative school, and the
current policy is too harsh for first-time offenders with small
amounts of drugs.

Hirsch said he surveyed nearby districts and found that they had
terms in the alternative school as short as 45 days for first-time
drug offenders.

"We need to be more flexible," Hirsch said. "The administrators are
telling me they need a policy as soon as possible to create
flexibility."

Board member John Brenke asked if the more lenient policies toward
first-time offenders in those school districts helped lessen the
violations or created more violators.

Hirsch said he did not know, but could find the answers in time for
the second reading of the policy change on June 11.