Pubdate: Thu, 08 Jun 2006 Source: Westford Eagle (MA) Copyright: 2006 Community Newspaper Company Contact: http://www.townonline.com/westford/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4182 Author: Ariel Z. Burch, Staff Writer Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Test) PARENTS CLAMOR FOR MORE SCHOOL COMMUNICATIONS Parents say the School Committee needs to ensure a safe school environment by increasing staff drug and alcohol screening and implementing abuse awareness programs. The School system also must work on the ongoing communication issue, according to parents and staff at the School Committee meeting Monday. The Safety Task Committee of parents and community members was created after this year's teacher scandals to improve communication and provide guidance to the School Committee. "This committee represents a very diverse group of people, representing people in industry, people with a vested interest in the community and community leaders," said Mark Quinn who represented a subcommittee that gave recommendations for improving the hiring process. Quinn said the current hiring process is able to secure high-quality teachers, but that it lacks comprehensive background checks that would enable the schools to predict behavioral problems such as substance abuse. "We tend to focus very much in hiring on the technical aspects, the 'what' they are going to do. We don't spend a lot of time as hiring managers on the 'how,'" Quinn said. Quinn recommended outsourcing the background checks and screening portion of the hiring process to a third party to decrease liability. Hiring programs would allow the schools to gain a more thorough knowledge of candidates' backgrounds and would provide information about substance abuse, criminal records and financial stability. The schools should also train staff to recognize potential problem behaviors, Quinn said. "Everyone is going to become more aware of signs, symptoms and behavioral changes," said Sue Higgins, a member of the Employee Drug Screening Subcommittee. Lee Thurston, nurse leader for the School Department, said staff should be taught to recognize signs of drug abuse and that all staff should be required to consent to drug testing if there is evidence of a problem. Superintendent of Schools Dr. Stephen Foster said the leadership team of principals and management staff will train to recognize risky behavior during a summer conference. "We need to stress moral responsibility for all teachers," Foster said. He said the employee assistance program is underutilized and that the teacher handbook and code of conduct should include policies about proper behavior. Foster said he is speaking with Frank Shea, a private investigator with the Department of Education, to determine whether the recent teacher scandals could have been predicted by more comprehensive criminal records checks. Nabnasset Principal Susan DuBois, who headed the Public Notification Subcommittee, said the communications survey should be reissued to gather more results. A paper copy of the survey was given to all parents after the School Committee was criticized for its methods of communicating sensitive issues, especially regarding the allegations against former Blanchard Middle School teacher Susan Clickner. DuBois said that parents of kindergarten through second grade students submitted 221 surveys, but that there were only a handful of responses from high school parents. She suggested that the survey be reissued in September, when parents are used to filling out paper work, so that the School Committee can compile information about how best to communicate sensitive information. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D