Schools

Officials Take Stand Against Youth Substance Abuse

Kinnelon school officials and borough underage drinking committee discuss needed measures.

Less than 10 percent of the students who are sanctioned by the substance abuse penalties are referred to the program by police, according to Superintendent Jim Opiekun.

Opiekun shared this information, and detailed the intervention measures the district takes to ensure safety of students who may be abusing drugs or alcohol, with the borough's Underage Drinking Ordinance Advisory Committee Monday. The citizen committee is tasked with making recommendations on the borough is considering that would allow police to charge underage individuals found drinking or in possession of alcohol on private property.

Principal Dr. Wayne Merckling accompanied Opiekun as the school district officials explained that they do receive information from police on students who are arrested on drinking and drug-related charges on public property. If enacted, Opiekun said the ordinance would not greatly affect the school district's policy or procedures, however, the district would be amenable to working with the borough and the  on their procedures for the greater good of the borough's youth.

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"If anything, it may affect the message about how serious it is," Opiekun said.

According to the school district's policy, students who are charged with a substance abuse crime by police, who are referred by the district's Intervention and Referral Service (I&RS) or who administrators have reasonable suspicion to be abusing drugs or alcohol are required to submit a urine sample within two hours of the district's contact with their parent. Opiekun said the tests will determine whether the students has ingested drugs within a certain time period by medical standards and will be able to indicate whether they have ingested alcohol within 72 hours of testing.

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Reasonable suspicion, among other factors, can include the student falling asleep in classes, a sudden drop in grades and a student hanging out with a new group of friends who include other students who have gone through the district's substance abuse procedure, Opiekun said.

If the student tests positive for drugs or alcohol, the student, their parent, an administrator and the school's Student Assistance Counselor (SAC) meet and discuss the the situation. The student will be required to endure a substance abuse assessment with a certified alcohol and drug counselor. The school will make recommendations for counselors they have worked with in the past, but parents are able to choose a counselor who works with their insurance carriers.

Merckling said the assessment process can take about a week, at the end of which the counselor will determine and inform the school district whether they feel that the student is abusing drugs or alcohol and formulate a treatment plan for the student. At the conclusion of treatment, the SAC will continue to provide support services for the student and random urine and saliva tests will be conducted. If the counselor determines the student was not abusing drugs or alcohol, they will be able to return to classes immediately without further action.

Several committee members inquired about the district's policy and how it would relate to the ordinance if enacted, asking questions particularly geared toward athletes and those students who happen to be in a place where underage drinking is happening, but not necessarily participating in the drinking. According to , if the ordinance is enacted as written, all underage persons who are at the scene of a party where alcohol is found could be arrested and charged.

However, Opiekun said police would interview those who are arrested and typically leave names of those who are in "constructive possession" of alcohol but not under the influence out of the reports sent to the school. Opiekun also said the majority of students who go through the district's substance abuse procedure are not referred by police reports.

"The police reports are probably getting the most notoriety, but we have a lot of ways we screen the kids to make sure there's not a problem," he said.

Opiekun mentioned the school district's controversial random drug testing policy which allows district officials to randomly test students who voluntarily participate in the program through consent from their parent or who participate in athletic, extra-curricular or on-campus parking activities.

Students who participate in athletic activities are also required to sign a pledge in the beginning of the year which states "As a student-athlete or member of a club or activity, I pledge to not participate in the illegal consumption of alcohol, or CDS (controlled dangerous substances) and to not use tobacco while I am a student at Kinnelon High School. I also understand that if I am charged with possession or constructive possession of any of these substances, or if found under the influence of these substances, that I am in violation of the Athletic/Activity and Board of Education Substance Abuse Policy."

Students are issued the pledge in writing and must sign it with their parent prior to beginning the activity. They are also reminded of the possible penalties for breaching the pledge throughout the year by school administrators, Merckling said.

If substance abuse of an athlete is confirmed by the urine sample, on first offense, the athlete or activity participant will be suspended from the activity for 10 days. Second offense could be up to a one-month suspension from the activity and third offense could leave the student indefinitely suspended from the activity. Opiekun said the ordinance, as written, would allow the district to suspend student athletes who are charged for being in constructive possession of alcohol. One committee member asked if the district would perhaps not put the student through the assessment process if this was the case because it could have been a situation where they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"If I treat kids differently, what happens is you lose credibility," Opiekun said.

But committee Chairman Pat Caserta said the committee wants to ensure fairness to the students.

"Would the district be inclined to consider revising your policy, because what we don't want to do is come down too hard on anybody," he said.

Opiekun said he would be agreeable to the district reviewing its policy if the ordinance is enacted, but stressed that students who do voluntarily submit urine samples or are tested through the random drug testing are issued a "zero offense" which means there is no sanction on their first offense but they must complete the assessment with a counselor. Committee member Mark Gaw said he thought the assessment itself would upset students who were not actually involved in substance abuse.

"That can take the wind out of a good student's sails," he said.

But Opiekun disagreed and Merckling said the random drug testing does not seem to bother students. The school district also has the right to randomly, or with reasonable suspicion, search students' lockers and vehicles and bring in drug-sniffing K-9s. Overall, Opiekun said these measures are taken to ensure the students' safety and oftentimes, students can hide their drug abuse from family members and school officials for a long period of time.

"By the time you catch them, that's the kids that are going to rehab for 30 days. That's the kids that are too far gone to bring them back," he said.

Merckling also mentioned how the procedure the school district has in place actually helps students in the justice process as they are able to show proof of their resolution to a judge.

"By the time they get to court, they had treatment, they have taken care of a lot of things in their lives," he said.

The hope of Merckling and Opiekun is that through random testing and seeing their peers go through the district's procedure, students are deterred from substance abuse.

"We try to give them a reason to say 'no.' That if they're in a group, they have an out," Merckling said.

Toward the end of the conversation, Caserta asked Opiekun how big of a substance abuse problem he felt had with underage residents. But Opiekun said he could not give a precise number because it is difficult to gauge what a "problem" is.

"If we have one kid that has a substance abuse problem, we have a problem," he said. 


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