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ADAMUS SETS DRUG GUIDELINES FOR NEXT SCHOOL YEAR

EAST HANOVER TWP.  - In the immediate aftermath of the deaths of two Whippany Park High School graduates in the past month to apparent heroin overdoses, the mayors of East Hanover and Hanover townships both offered the services of a full-time police "school resource officer."

Following a prescription painkiller sweep leading to the arrests of 56 people, most of them graduates or current students at Whippany Park High School, Hanover Park Regional High School District Superintendent John Adamus said those officers could be on board at both Hanover Park and Whippany Park high schools in September.

"We are talking with both East Hanover and Hanover Township," Adamus said Tues day.  "We still have some details to work out but it should be starting in September."

Adamus said one of the problems is in getting Florham Park Police on board.  The Hanover Park District includes students from all three municipalities but no school building is physically in Florham Park.

"It's a jurisdictional problem," Adamus said.  "We hope to come up with what they are calling a formal inter-service agreement, but because Hanover Park High School is in East Hanover, it still has to be determined how we can have Florham Park officers come in."

Adamus, who had been relatively silent on the drug issue facing his district before last Thursday's raid, was finally able to open up, saying he had to be circumspect owing to the sensitive nature of the investigation.

"We were not allowed to talk about it," Adamus said.  "From a legal perspective, for this investigation to be effective, we had to keep quiet.  We had to pretend we were doing nothing and that got a lot of people angry.  Basically, we didn't want to screw it up."

He added the Hanover Township Police were very helpful throughout the investigation.

"Hanover Township Police were great," Adamus said.  "If we were gong to be actively involved they wanted to be sure it worked.  We had the highest level of cooperation we have had in years.  The police were extremely open, which they haven't always been in the past."

Adamus explained the school resource officer program would be an extension of what the schools already have in place.  "But instead of having an officer come in every once on a while, it will be full time," Adamus noted.

The officer would be a permanent fixture in the schools, but would not just be there for law enforcement.  "He won't just patrol the halls, he will be an integral part of the school day," he said.

The officer would be invited into classrooms to discuss drug-related issues and act as a liaison between students and police.

Adamus said he has already spoken with East Hanover Police Chief Stanley Hansen and was scheduled to meet with Hanover Police Chief Stephen Gallagher Thursday.  He has yet to meet with Florham Park Police Chief Kim Chapman.

Adamus said he would also like to see a change in drug testing laws.  School athletes can be tested randomly for drugs, but the only other time students are allowed to be tested is if they exhibit signs of drug intoxication.

New this year will be the enforcement of a recent state Supreme Court ruling that requires all students who play in championship games to be tested for drugs.  Because any sport could result in a championship game, all students trying out for sports will have to be tested.  "If they don't agree to be tested at the beginning of the season, they can't play," Adamus said.  "We've gotten some concerns from parents over it."

Adamus said he would like to see something different, a testing of all students entering the ninth grade.  "We already require a student entering ninth grade to take a physical from his or her own doctor.  I'd like to add drug testing," he said.

Noting that much can change in a student's life from ninth to 12th grade, Adamus said such a test would still be a good idea.  "I think it would be important to set a baseline for everyone.  A lot of kids who do drugs don't play on teams," he said.

"But," he added, "Everything I'm talking about now is currently illegal."

Threefold Approach

Adamus said his thinking is along the lines of a threefold approach to the drug problem.

"The first is curriculum," he said.  "Are we doing enough to make the kids aware of drug issues?"

Adamus said he wants to provide students with the ability to work toward positive results.  In that effort he will continue and expand programs that reward students for good behavior.  "We want to help let kids make the right choices," Adamus said.  "So, we'll pat them on the back.  We'll encourage them."

A second step, he said, would be to look at rules and regulations and that would include the school resource officer.  "Our teachers here average less than five years on the job," he noted.  "Teachers today don't necessarily have to know about substance abuse issues.  Now, they will."

Third, Adamus said he wants to focus on counseling.  "We haven't talked about it because of the investigation, but we spend a large part of our time dealing with students by counseling them rather than by through legal discipline," he said.  "Under New Jersey law we can seek counseling rather than discipline.  Students can come to us, self-referred, and we try to help them.  The counseling curriculum became so heavy this year that I myself got involved with counseling a student.  We want to make our students active members of the community."