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Plainsman1963

10-15-2004 | By Patrick Cronin | seacoastonline.com

HAMPTON - High school students Courtney Polansky and Rachael Ainsworth said whether parents want to believe it, drugs and alcohol problems at their school are real.
"It’s definitely a problem," said Ainsworth.

"(Drugs and alcohol) are all around," said Polansky. "It’s weird, kids that I grew up with and thought would never do anything like that are the ones who are now using."

That is one reason school officials hosted a community forum on the subject Tuesday night.

"This is not a conversation that is unique to the Winnacunnet High School," said Principal Ruth Leveille. "It’s something going on statewide and nationally."

Although only a handful of parents showed up, Leveille said she was not disappointed.

"It’s only the beginning of a conversation," said Leveille. "I think it will grow from here. Was the turnout small? Yes. Was I disappointed? No."

Sobering statistics

According to school officials, the number of students suspended for being in possession of drugs in school has increased.

In the 2001-02 school year, 11 students were suspended for possession of drugs. Last year, the number rose to 21.

"When I say drugs, most of these suspensions were for Marijuana," said Leveille.

Numbers for alcohol suspensions are already higher than last year when only two students were suspended. So far this year, five students have been suspended for being in possession of alcohol.

Leveille said while those numbers may appear to be low, in reality they are not.

"These are only the kids who are getting caught," said Leveille. "There are many students out there who are not getting caught."

Statistics are real

Polansky, a senior from North Hampton, and Ainsworth, a senior from Hampton, said they know that drugs and alcohol are a problem at the school because they have seen it firsthand.

"Kids feel the pressure," said Polansky. "They think they have to drink or use drugs to fit in."

Assistant Principal Randy Zito said the problem is getting worse.

Last week, Zito said he heard rumors that students were planing to bring alcohol with them to the football game.

"I spoke to them at an assembly," said Zito. "I told them ‘for your on safety, please don’t do it.’ I guess I didn’t do a very good job because that night, they came. I didn’t even catch them all."

Zito said when he spoke to the kids who were caught, he was surprised by their comments.

"They told me they were not testing me but they didn’t believe that we would do something about it," said Zito.

Parents offer input

Parents offered several suggestion on how to combat student drug and alcohol usage, including setting up a parent contact list.

They also discussed eliminating the school’s open-campus privilege for seniors after new School Resource Officer Steve Champey said the privilege fosters destructive behavior.

"Students can go home for lunch, smoke a joint and come back to school," said Champey.

While the privilege of leaving school grounds during lunch and free periods is only available to seniors, Champey said it’s hard to know if the students leaving are really seniors.

Sending the right message

Leveille said the school does have a drug and alcohol policy.

Currently, if a student is caught in possession of drugs and alcohol, he or she is automatically suspended from school for 10 days. Also, the student must have a mandatory meeting with the school’s drug and alcohol counselor.

That policy began in 2003 and replaced the one that was approved in 2001, which made the meeting with the school’s drug and alcohol counselor optional.

"The new policy didn’t really effect any changes in the amount of students using drugs or alcohol," said Leveille.

Students who are involved in sports also sign the Winnacunnet Athletics Contract, in which they vow to abstain from drugs and alcohol.

The same goes for students participating in extracurricular activities such as student council, Leveille said. But the wording is different from the contract that athletes sign.

Instead of saying that the student will be suspended, it states that they may be suspended.

"It says may, but we do suspend the students," Leveille.

Winnacunnet School Board Chairman Brenda Quackenbush said the board plans to review the school’s policies of an open campus and drugs and alcohol.

"Until we have a zero-tolerance policy, we won’t be setting an example for our kids," Quackenbush said.

[Plains' Note: I do not have the same faith in zero-tolerance policies that Quackenbush [] does.]

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WNB

Sounds like my senior year of high school

Seriously though, where's the fire? Kids have always been smoking pot and drinking. The school should still try and prevent it, but they shouldn't go too far. You can't stop that kind of thing, and cracking down on it only increases tension and makes school seem like a prison, instead of a place to learn.

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Srvflunky420

At the highschool I go to 3/4 to 4/5 of the school smoke pot and drink. Is it a problem? No, we are also one of the top schools in the state(top 3 atleast if not #1) on test scores, our debate team has won 1st in nationals, and something like 98% of graduates go on to college. Now, wheres the problem? Smoking and drinking arent hurting us, that school must be ****in up somewhere else.

And yea this is nothing new at all. Has nobody seen Dazed and Confused?

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"My baby brings me champagne when I'm thirsty yea lord, and that girl gives me reefer when I wanna get high" -Buddy Guy

Stephanie S.

Srvflunky420, I don't mean to be argumentative, but if you live in Louisiana as your heading states, the numbers you presented as to high school graduates going on to college is a little inaccurate.

My radar went up when I saw those numbers because that would be a phenomenon. Statewide, 42% of graduates become "first time freshmen" in college. LSU University Lab School has the highest percentage of students entering college at 65.7%.

Drugs and school do not mix.

While I'm not big on zero tolerance policies all around, when a school has tried other avenues and failed, sometimes taking swift and decisive action is whatit takes. Really if parents were doing their jobs, the problems with drugs and alcohol in school would decrease significantly. My son knows unequivocally what the results will be if he gets into serious trouble at school for anything. And at the same time I parent in a way that keeps him occupied withmore important things than thinking about getting high.

peace

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"See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda." —George W. Bush, Greece, N.Y., May 24, 2005 (Listen to audio)

AlucardOrange3

There has to be a distinction made at some point between minor transgressions and major crimes. People lose their damn minds when a kid brings some weed or alcohol to school (the biggest scandal of my middle school years was when 15 kids were busted smoking weed in the boy's bathroom *gasp!*), but two kids get in a fistfight and they're back at school in 2 days! Will someone bother to explain why altering your own conciousness is more of a crime/nuisance/problem/issue/ANYTHING than a physical fight? I'll admit that drugs are not the best thing kids can do with their time and money. However, you have to accept that sometimes drugs just aren't that bad either. Whether or not drug use will cause a problem has a hell of a lot more to do with the kid than with the drugs: some kids are dumb/careless/unlucky, and those 3 things do not often combine well with drugs. Others are intelligent/cautious/lucky, and that happens to mix just fine with drug use sometimes. Hell, I've done more drugs than most Americans even know exist, and to be modest I'm not exactly a shining model of academic and social failure. Ease up people, there's no reason to recreate the Third Reich just because we're stuck on principles instead of reality.

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Ganjachic19

I just wanna know why people are so against smoking?? Honestly, would you rather your child be out drinking and acting a fool, or smoking and sitting back relaxing??? And my opinion on drugs and booze in school : Well, if a kid thinks they are old enough to make a decision to do the drug or drink the alcohol then they are old enough to take the consequences that come with it..

Ganjachic19

I agree with that.... i have been on a few harsh drugs , but there is no kinda of comparison to marijuana.... Some people do take it too far at times... But i think kids should wait till they are old enough to handle what they are getting thier selfs into... even if they arethe ones who are "dumb/careless/unlucky" .....