Pubdate: Tue, 20 Nov 2001
Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News (CO)
Copyright: 2001 Denver Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.denver-rmn.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/371
Author: Robert Sanchez
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

HIGHLANDS RANCH TEACHERS TO GET DRUG TALK

School 'Ready To Move On' After Former Students' Deaths

HIGHLANDS RANCH -- Teachers at Highlands Ranch High School will learn 
next week how to identify and help students who might have drug 
problems, the principal said Monday.

Principal Lisle Gates said talks with his teachers would "renew the 
awareness of issues" facing students at the school.

The Rocky Mountain News reported Saturday that eight people in 
Arapahoe and Douglas counties -- including two former Highlands Ranch 
High School students -- have died from heroin overdoses in the past 
three months.

Gates said his school is "ready to move on" after the deaths of 17- 
year-olds Austin Higgins and Elliot Wallace.

"We have never said we don't have a drug problem," Gates said. "But 
we're just like every other school. . . . Public high schools reflect 
the greater society and community it exists in."

Wallace died Aug. 26 at a party in Littleton after smoking a rock of 
heroin with newly made friends. Higgins' body was found Sept. 9 on 
the couch in his bedroom, with two syringes on a table next to his 
body.

The two were enrolled in alternative schools at the times of their 
deaths. Wallace was a quiet student while Higgins had played on 
Highlands Ranch's freshman and sophomore baseball teams.

Both used marijuana before and had been caught by police.

"People were crying in the hallway when they died, but you know they 
were right back partying a week later," said Bryan Lupton, 17, a 
Highlands Ranch senior who knew Higgins. "The community's so small 
that anyone can access (drugs), no matter who you are or what group 
you belong to."

Some students said Monday that the school is doing little to solve 
its drug problems. Marijuana and ecstasy are readily available, they 
said, though heroin is virtually unheard of in most circles.

When asked how many people at the school have used drugs, junior Matt 
Calhoun said: "More than you think."

"When friends see friends die, I think that woke people up a little 
and they started telling their friends that they needed to stop 
before this happened to them," said Calhoun, 17. "No one wanted to 
listen."

Gates said his school uses the Douglas County Sheriff's Office to 
keep his staff up-to-date on drug problems in the community. The 
principal also pointed to a public meeting in February he and 
authorities had shortly after ecstasy nearly killed a 15-year-old 
female Highlands Ranch student.

About 80 parents attended.

"That's not a lot," Gates said. "We have to be more proactive.

"Can we do more? Absolutely."
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