Pubdate: Tue, 16 Dec 2003
Source: Oregonian, The (Portland, OR)
3950.xml?oregonian?en
Copyright: 2003 The Oregonian
Contact:  http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/324
Author: Mellisa L. Jones

SANDY HIGH DISCIPLINES EIGHT OVER MARIJUANA

Administrators, assuming that other students may smoke or possess marijuana,
are reviewing procedures

SANDY -- Eight Sandy High School students are suspended this week for
possessing or smoking marijuana on campus.

In several unrelated incidents over the past week, school staff found
students smoking or possessing marijuana.

Sandy High administrators say they would be reviewing their drug policies in
response. The minimum punishment for possession or use is a five-day
suspension and a drug counseling session.

"I think they were unrelated, not all part of the same deal," assistant
principal Rayburn Mitchell said Monday.

On Thursday, three students were called into Mitchell's office after a staff
member suspected the students of smoking marijuana one morning. Once the
students were in his presence, Mitchell said, he could smell marijuana on
their clothes.

The same day, tips led to two more students being called into the office.
Those two students reportedly had marijuana in their pockets.

Earlier in the week, three other students were in trouble for marijuana.

Police Chief Harold Skelton said Monday that he thought police had issued
three or four citations; clearer information was not available because the
officer who responded Thursday had not filed a report.

"This was the biggest at any one time that we had ever seen," Mitchell said.

Principal Jim Saxton said the staff is discussing what they can do to be
more aggressive, including increasing education and punishment.

"I do think there's probably more kids using, smoking pot," said Saxton.

Mitchell said locker searches are also an option.

"We have the freedom and the right to do that, but we haven't done it in
quite a while," Mitchell said.
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