Drug tests to stay in school

Children as young as 12 are taking random drug tests at school after being busted with drugs in the playground.

The number of illicit drugs being found on children in school grounds is escalating, police and schools say.

Last year, schools stood down 1184 pupils for drugs, suspended 815, and expelled 30. Education Ministry statistics dating back to 2006 show rates of standdowns and expulsions for drugs have increased but suspensions have decreased.

Police used drug sniffer dogs in 12 schools in Greater Wellington in the past eight months in an attempt to halt the trend.

Although some schools have taken a hard line on drug-use with suspensions and expulsions, the police – in partnership with the pupils, their caregivers and sometimes the school – have been trying a different tack – signing pupils up to "alternative-action contracts" to try to keep them in school.

The six-month contracts can require the pupil to undergo random urine tests to detect drugs, write essays on cannabis use and abuse, perform community work and undergo behaviour and counselling reviews.

If they breach the contract, including failing a drug test, police will revisit the initial drug charge and may take further action. The school may choose to expel the child.

One Wairarapa school, which police would not name, has flushed out eight pupils in the past three months with drugs on them at school.

The children, aged between 12 and 16, were being dealt with by police using the alternative action contract. Some have been tested at school for drugs.

Wairarapa youth aid prosecutor Dave Drummond said the contracts, which are being used nationwide, were an attempt to keep children in school while offering fair punishment.

"Colleagues everywhere in the country are noticing a surge in notifications of drug use or possession in schools," he said.

"The positive thing is schools are not trying to sweep it under the carpet to protect their own reputations. They are using police to deal with the kids and send a really clear message that drug use will not be tolerated."

The scheme has been operating for several years but Police National Headquarters was unable to provide any information or comment on how the scheme was working nationally, despite questions over two days.

This week, Greytown teenager Nathan Crawford, 18, pleaded guilty in Masterton District Court to possessing cannabis – a drug the year 13 pupil was giving to his mates in the playground at Kuranui College.

His family withdrew him from school.

In June, Lindisfarne College in Hawke's Bay – a high-performing decile-10 school – punished 17 boys after a drug investigation triggered by a tipoff from a parent.

In September, three Southland secondary schools had pupils involved in drug-related incidents, with at least two schools handing down suspensions.

Police and principals agree that drugs in schools this year appear to be at a record high.

Kuranui principal Geoff Shepherd said this year was definitely worse than any he had seen for "the playground drug culture".

"It is certainly much more of an issue than I ever noticed before and all the principals I have spoken to in the district and throughout the country are noticing it.

"The problem, I feel, is the huge availability of cannabis within the community that is filtering down to our children and a tacit approval, an acceptance, I guess, that it is okay to use if you don't get caught."

The Post Primary Teachers Association, the secondary school teachers' union, said it was pushing for more guidance counsellors, social workers and programmes to support parents and families so as to do more than simply contain the drug problem.

- © Fairfax NZ News