Reply to STA's Substance Abuse Culture?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Are the boys clear that there is a zero-tolerance policy in place?  So there's a drug-alcohol program freshmen year, any formal discussion beyond that?

Also, are the boys in upper school required to sign a zero-tolerance policy statement?  Seriously, does the school really assume that the boys are reading the handbook?   I doubt that most parents would even bother reading that handbook, unless their son was in trouble.

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I don't believe the school has an umbrella public-school style "zero tolerance" policy, so no, the students don't sign such a statement.  I do believe that each year they are explicitly reminded at the beginning of the school year that use of drugs on campus can result, and has in the past resulted, in separation from the school.  (The school appears to treat illegal drug use as a more serious offense than under-age drinking.)  In the case of the boarders that has been mentioned, the students were using drugs on campus on a dorm room.  They were asked to leave the school but were allowed to reapply the next academic year.  One boy did re-apply and was re-admitted but unfortunately got into trouble with the same drug the next year and did not finish out the school year.

As the prior post mentioned, the school counselor addresses addiction/substance abuse issues periodically and beyond the freshman year, and drugs and drinking are also discussed in the chapel program, sometimes by faculty sometimes by students who are sharing their own "lessons learned" via their own or family member's experience.

It's not a perfect place but they are doing their best and seem to balance an institutional interest in discipline with compassion for an individual (especially through inviting troubled students to seek help from a chaplain).  I'm sure it is still very upsetting for any family whose child gets caught up in a drugs/drinking-related disciplinary situation, and that there is a lot of soul-searching and questioning whether earlier intervention opportunities from family or school may have gone unnoticed.

As some prior posters have noted, this can be a tough situation for a school.  When is a kid just a spacey, absent-minded kid, and when is that kid a stoned kid?  If it is the former, imagine the fall-out for a teacher or coach to report a suspiciion of drug use to parents.  I would think many parents would respond ferociously and angrily to a perceived slur on their child's reputation.  Certainly parents at schools around town have been known to threaten to sue over discipline for accusations of cheating, for example.  So, bottom line . . . just a tricky issue.[/quote]

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