Pubdate: Wed, 20 Dec 2006
Source: Agassiz Harrison Observer (CN BC)
Copyright: 2006 Agassiz Observer
Contact:  http://www.agassizharrisonobserver.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1344
Author: Michelle Vandepol

PARENTS AND POLICE DREAM OF DRUG FREE ZONE

Concerned parents and the local law enforcement have at least one 
thought in common: A.E.S.S. needs to be placed in a drug free zone. 
This is not a small amount of work or a fast one, but it is something 
the new RCMP school liaison officer, Gaetan Parr, is committed to. He 
is working with a fellow officer who has accomplished drug free 
zoning in a previous location and knows the paperwork route to get 
there. The main obstacle to the drug-free zone is the difficulty of 
demonstrating the need to Crown, Parr admits.

Crown wants to be shown large quantities of drugs and so far, only 
small amounts have been found. This does not mean the problem is 
small, only that the product is well hidden.

Within an established "drug free zone" according to the RCMP, 
penalties are twice as severe.

Parr, who covers all of district 78's schools, shares his concerns 
that "in BC and in the lower mainland especially, there is a lax 
attitude towards pot." He cites statistics that say next to wood, 
marijuana is B.C.'s second export.

He is concerned with the pervasive beliefs that it's just pot, a drug 
people are not taking as seriously as they should.

Statistics backs RCMP school liaison officer up. According to the 
2004 Canadian Addiction Survey, 44.5 per cent of Canadians reported 
trying marijuana at least once, significantly up from 23.3 percent in 
1989. Canadians reported a 14.1 per cent general use of the drug 
compared with 10.6 per cent of Americans and 9.7 per cent of Britons.

A.E.S.S. parent, Sharon Verde, says she backs the drug-free zone and 
hopes it comes to fruition.

Its mention does not allay all of her concerns, however.

Of the meeting held, she says she was frustrated with the emphasis on 
education.

She applauds efforts to arm each teacher with material to inform kids 
on the dangers of drugs, but says while "education is good; education 
has been here all along" through the long standing D.A.R.E. program 
and other efforts and she feels it has proven itself to "not [be] 
enough to combat this problem." Another concern she had was that 
"nothing at the meeting" addressed the possibility of students 
selling drugs within the school itself, a very real possibility, she 
says, given past experience.

She agrees with the superintendent, Dr. Neumeier "that all the 
parents need to be involved...Not just some of them," she stresses.

A nurse by profession, Verde worries about the future of the kids who 
are habitually failing at making the wrong choices and are continuing 
on a destructive path. "Ultimately, the kids are the ones making the 
choices," Verde says, but she is concerned that by not having 
powerful deterrent consequences for the kids, we as adults are 
failing them. "As a nurse I have cared for [long term] drug addicted 
patients," she says, "And we need to [deter] kids before that point." 
She agrees with the team at A.E.S.S. that it is not just a school 
problem, but "a community problem," as well.

The administration and the RCMP have both expressed frustration with 
the lack of proof which is needed both for the advancement of the 
"drug free zone" establishment and for the suspension interventions 
that result in drug and alcohol counseling for the students caught 
using or in possession of drugs or alcohol.

They have been doing what they can to randomly search lockers and 
have plainclothes police officers around the school vicinity.

While they have suspicious activity and persons earmarked, more work 
needs to be done to catch the suspects in the act.

At the meeting, Wendy Colman, drug and alcohol counsellor at A.E.S.S, 
shared a bit of the school's program, the result of her committed 
work to the problem.

She says the school's program arms the kids with resilience and 
empowerment to keep them safe to make the right choices and to 
rehabilitate kids who have made the wrong choices while the school 
works to rid itself of the drug problem.

She is confident, noting that even kids on hard street drugs in the 
past have benefited from what the program offers.

While some parents including Verde, have concerns with the Alternate 
school now being in close proximity to A.E.S.S, the Alternate school 
vice-principal states that now they can "track the kids more closely" 
and now that it's in town there is 'better attendance.' For the kids 
who skip out, the administration and community youth workers are able 
to round them up in town and bring them back to school.

Parents at the meeting heard advice from parents who have traveled 
down life's road with a child addicted to crystal meth. According to 
the school's survey, crystal meth use by students has stayed constant 
at 3 per cent of students for the last five years.

The couple speaking, whose identity was protected for the sake of 
their rehabilitated child now grown and clean and living in a 
different community, also advocated stronger programs, but applauded 
the fact that there were any here at all. They expressed confidence 
in the school anti-drug team's abilities.

They told parents to "listen to their gut feelings" and "get 
educated" about drugs. "If you think something's going on with your 
kid, you're probably right," they said. They also encouraged parents 
to "go get help" for their kids as soon as they suspect their 
children are using drugs as indicated by sudden strange behavior.

They shared that at first they simply chalked their son's behavior 
typical teenage angst, but it was so much more. "Don't try to deal 
with it yourself.

Put the shame and embarrassment aside and call."

Zero tolerance, as explained by Dr. Neumeier, is based within an 
interventionist model the school's policies are governed by. It does 
not mean, as some might assume, that the school is going to kick kids 
out of school never to return again in the case of one mistake involving drugs.

Even advocates for stronger consequences like Verde are not in favor 
of that approach.

She says that kids who make a mistake with drugs should be 
intercepted early and be given the tools like rehabilitation and 
counselling in order to get back into the mainstream schooling.

Dr. Neumeier explains that "zero tolerance" means that the 
administration will always intervene where they have the proof to do 
so and that the school community itself has zero tolerance for 
uncooperative students and families.

There are individual challenges facing small town schools like 
A.E.S.S. One of these challenges, according to Dr. Neumeier, is that 
there are approximately 100 students coming and going every year at 
A.E.S.S. making Agassiz "a community of transition." As to getting 
kids out of the drug culture, which Neumeier admits is key, Agassiz 
does not have the luxury of a bigger city like Chilliwack to have two 
high schools to pass rehabilitated students back and forth to 
interrupt their drug culture belonging.

Another disadvantage Agassiz has, according to Parr, is that there is 
no separate middle school. In spite of these drawbacks, many times 
the small communities are the ones that because of their size can 
pull together and watch out for each others' kids.

Parents can encourage their children to be extra eyes and ears at the 
school and to report suspicious and known activity or fellow 
classmates they are concerned about and know that there are resources 
to deal with them. The fastest way to get drugs out of the school is 
to find their hard proof which can lead to suspensions, arrests, and 
rehabilitation. As mentioned previously, A.E.S.S. has increased 
supervision, drug and alcohol counselling in place, drug awareness 
materials that will be taught across all subjects, and has Parr as a 
RCMP presence, building trust and accountability with the students.

The RCMP does not anticipate getting Crown on board for a "drug free 
zone" being an easy task. "It needs to be a public matter of 
interest," Parr says. "We need the community on board." He advocates 
everyone pulling together quickly.

There are "a lot of kids on the fence [about drugs]" he says. The 
time to act is now. "Marijuana is prevalent [among the students]," 
the RCMP says. Talk to your kids, report suspicious activity to the 
police, and be an adult presence wherever you can. Ernest Middleton, 
community youth worker also preaches what he practices. "Go be an 
adult presence at kid hot spots," he says and, "Get as much support 
[for yourselves] as parents as possible."
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MAP posted-by: Elaine