Pubdate: Tue, 13 Feb 2007 Source: Austin Daily Herald, The (MN) Copyright: 2007 Austin Daily Herald Inc Contact: http://www.austindailyherald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1201 Author: Lee Bonorden, Austin Daily Herald District To 'Get Serious' About Drugs The Austin Independent School District will once again attempt to get serious about drug abuse. Superintendent Candace Raskin announced Monday night to the Austin Board of Education the district will launch an offensive against a rash of criminal cases involving drug use by students. According to Raskin, it will begin with a rare Sunday evening public meeting to discuss the situation. "We're hoping for a good discussion and to find out what we are doing and what we can do better," Raskin said. The school district is also working with the Minnesota State High School League on its own programming to curb drug use among teenagers. The school district has experienced the worst case scenario this school year: students allegedly taking illegal drugs during school hours in a bathroom at Austin High School. The students were arrested and are currently awaiting prosecution. At the start of the school year, the district announced a partnership with the Mower County Chemical Health Team. It was designed to show a short film about drug use and abuse before the start of events in the school district. Now, the superintendent said a new two-pronged effort will be implemented. After the March 11 meeting (6:30 p.m. that Sunday evening in Knowlton Auditorium at AHS), another part of the school district's offensive will be attempted. Jean McDermott, Neveln Elementary School principal, will put into action a component of the new "Character Counts" programming. According to Raskin, McDermott will work with the school district's coaches to share data about helping to discourage drug use among teenagers. The entire school district will be invited to an April 10 showing of the film "Start Dreaming." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom