PETOSKEY CHANGES TACTICS IN WAR ON DRUGS, ALCOHOL

Back in October Petoskey school officials held a forum to tell parents about
plans to revamp the district's substance abuse policy and, as a key part of
that new policy, institute random drug testing on students.

The reaction from parents was loud and clear: No.

Now, to their credit, district officials have "switched gears" and put the
issue of drug and alcohol abuse in the proper context - that it's a
community problem, not just a school problem, and will require community
solutions. The schools can help, they say, but can't go it alone.

They're right. To underscore their point, they formed what is being called
the Youth Substance Abuse Committee, held a brainstorming session and made
it clear that the schools will do what they can, but the impetus to resolve
the problem has to come from the community.

They struck a chord.

Parents, students and community leaders,. before talking about ideas for
curbing drug and alcohol use, said clearly that the first line of defense
must be parents, not school officials, and the community as a whole.

Parent Trish Williams summed it up perfectly: "Certainly the school does
have a responsibility, but it's the parent's responsibility first. And the
community and the city need to realize they have a responsibility, too."

The group came up with a number of solid ideas and observations.

*- Teenagers need somewhere to "hang out" and socialize, an option to
drinking parties.

*- They need to hear from students who have recovered from substance abuse
problems that drinking, drugs and smoking are not only illegal but
destructive, and why.

*- They need effective in-school or school-related education programs, not
some new version of the failed D.A.R.E. program that was aimed at
fifth-graders but badly missed the mark.

*- Establish a "hotline" for students who are having problems and have no
where else to turn for advice or information.

*- Use that same hotline for parents or students to report illicit drinking
parties.

*- Establish a Web site that would provide "contracts" for students to sign
vowing to remain sober and drug-free.

The most important aspect of all this is the change in attitude that is so
evident. School board members have done a virtual 180-degree turn away from
random drug tests - and the suspicions and tensions they would create - to a
proactive and supporting way to prevent drug and alcohol use in the first
place and help students who need it.

While there are no guarantees that the new process will work or just run out
of steam, there was little doubt that drug tests and drug-sniffing dogs and
locker searches would have sent the wrong message.

Imagine an atmosphere in which students never know when or if they'll be
singled out to go into a bathroom and urinate in a cup while an adult
listens. Not exactly the kind of nurturing, productive atmosphere most
parents envision.

School board members and administrators have done well to turn a negative
into a positive and widen the scope of the effort. Their efforts deserve
support.