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School Daze

Water bottles are a common sight at county schools, as students use them to stay hydrated throughout the day. But some students are taking it a step further, using the bottles to get sloshed at school with a clear cocktail of vodka and water.

The hard-to-detect mixture allows students to imbibe throughout the school day, getting their buzz on in plain view of teachers and classmates. Students report some kids even arrive at school already inebriated.

According to a recent Chesterfield SAFE (Substance Abuse Free Environment) survey of more than 4,000 county students, 5 percent of eighth-graders, 14 percent of 10th-graders and 16 percent of 12th-graders reported being drunk or high at school at least once during the previous year.

Those numbers reveal a big increase over 2005 survey results. From 2005 to 2007, the number of eighth-graders who reported being drunk or high at school rose by 20.8 percent. For 10th-graders and 12th-graders, the incidence increased by 53.3 percent and 39.2 percent respectively.

If you ask the kids, they'll tell you they definitely notice when their peers come to school drunk and wonder why the teachers around them don't always seem to notice. Others will tell you about the reeking scent of marijuana permeating from students' bathrooms or even how they've seen kids swallowing un-prescribed pills during the school day.

"It blows my mind really to see how much kids get away with," says Brian*, a recent Monacan High School graduate. "I've seen kids ridiculously drunk at school."

His friend, Dan*, who graduated from Thomas Dale High School last June, agrees. "I've seen kids cut up pills, like Ritalin and anti-depressants, in the bathroom, mix it with their water and take them."

"I see somebody drunk at my school every day," reports Aisha*, a Meadowbrook High School student.

Mary*, a sophomore at Midlothian High School, observes, "I know a lot of kids drinking vodka in water bottles, sipping throughout the day and even offering it to friends - while [not being] quiet about it at all! Teachers are slack in dealing with this issue. They don't seem to want to get involved with something this serious, and parents are not fearful enough."

Janet*, a student at Matoaca High School, says she sometimes "felt a little scared" about the drug problem at her school. "I feel like the security is not being strong enough. They're not doing their best, but they're doing okay for now, I guess," she said.

Clover Hill High School student John* says he feels fairly safe at his school, but "I do remember smelling marijuana in the bathroom and wondering why teachers didn't do anything about it."

School administrators say they are doing everything they can to deal with this problem, including offering enhanced teacher training, installing camera systems and clearly communicating that swift action will be taken for students violating the Standards of Student Contact codebook.

But in some ways, their hands are tied on how far they can go in confronting students. "Unless we have reasonable suspicion, we cannot search students for alcohol as they enter the school," says Tim Bullis , spokesperson for Chesterfield County Public Schools. "If a student's behavior creates reasonable suspicion our principals address the behavior with the student, which may include administering an Alco strip test and a search of a student's backpack and locker. If this is done, the parents are notified of the action and the behavior that led to this action."

Matoaca School Board member Omarh Rajah acknowledges SAFE's statistics show the county has a problem regarding the use of alcohol and illegal drugs on school premises. "The SAFE statistics on this issue are alarming, and as a school board member I'm not going to turn my head away from this subject."

Asked to comment on the issue, Superintendent Marcus Newsome gave the following statement:

"One of the objectives of our new strategic plan is to enhance student and staff demonstration of core values and good citizenship. In partnership with parents and our community, we seek to emphasize the importance of accountable and responsible decision making. We realize that our students must be healthy and of sound mind to succeed with their studies."

Many involved with this issue are wondering where parents are in helping schools deal with this problem, especially when kids are often getting their hands on alcohol and illegal substances before they arrive at school.

"We have to get more parents involved in their high schoolers lives, period," says Rajah, "and we need a youth commission to bring all of the local entities together to tackle some of the social issues related to our children."

According to Wayne Frith , SAFE's executive director, "This fall, SAFE is launching our 'Café Conversations' initiative which is a proven model for fostering dialogue between multigenerational groups - adults and kids - on important issues like this one. We talk a lot about achievement, but we do not talk enough about character as a value. If we are to discover our values as a community, we have to talk."

Check out more stories in this edition of the Chesterfield Observer , now a weekly publication.