Pubdate: Tue, 21 Oct 2003 Source: Powell River Peak (CN BC) Copyright: 2003 Peak Publishing Ltd. Contact: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?brd=1998 Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/734 Author: Isabelle Southcott SUSPENSIONS ON THE RISE Number of students sent home for an indefinite period--mostly for drug use or fighting--increases especially at Brooks' junior campus Marijuana use and fighting are cited as the main reasons behind an unusually high number of school suspensions in School District 47 last month. There were 38 suspensions in September this year compared to 31 suspensions in September last year, but it's the number of indefinite suspensions that are alarming to school trustees. In September 2002, most suspensions handed out were for 10 days or less. "It's very unusual," said assistant district superintendent Jay Yule at a recent school board meeting. "It's almost double. I'm hoping it's an anomaly." The school district's report shows 22 indefinite non-violent suspensions for September 2003 compared to 11 in September 2002. The district's report shows there were 12 indefinite suspensions for violent incidents which include fighting, physical altercations, and threats of bodily harm in September 2003. There were no indefinite violent suspensions in September 2002. Yule says the spike in September's indefinite non-violent suspension figures can mostly be attributed to marijuana use involving 13- and 14-year-olds at Brooks Secondary School's Junior Campus. Most of the suspensions were given to students for third offenses, with prior offenses dating back to the previous school year. "Our policy is that on your third drug offence in a Powell River school you will receive an indefinite suspension which will be reviewed by a committee who will decide on a course of action which could range from expulsion to counselling to alternative education placement," explained Yule. A number of students caught using marijuana at school are "chronic users" said Yule, noting that the district has seen a rise in the accepted use of marijuana among youth. Drug use was identified as a problem last year and the school district and community partners hosted a forum on the issue earlier this year. "It's been identified by the community and you are seeing it manifest itself in schools," said Yule in an interview. "With marijuana you don't see a lot of youth picked up by the RCMP and convictions in court. I guess we're one of the areas where there can be serious consequences for drug use even if it's a very small amount." Although marijuana use is responsible for most of the non-violent suspensions, a number of indefinite violent suspensions were handed out for altercations between students. "It's been a bit of a rough start at the junior campus," said Yule, noting that suspensions were also handed out for fighting. "We had a number of altercations mostly at the junior campus." They were reported as fights and could involve anything from one punch to wrestling to one student hitting another to a fist fight. All the students who received suspensions have returned to school. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens