Pubdate: Thu, 24 Jan 2002 Source: Gadsden Times, The (AL) Copyright: 2002 The Gadsden Times Contact: http://www.gadsdentimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1203 Author: Cindy West Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?135 (Drug Education) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.) MARSHALL SUPERINTENDENTS: CRYSTAL METH NOT BIGGEST PROBLEM GUNTERSVILLE -- Although crystal methamphetamine arrests are making up the majority of drug arrests in Marshall County, that drug is not the biggest problem in local schools. A panel of school superintendents and other educators answered questions from about 30 members of the Marshall County Crystal Methamphetamine Task Force at a meeting Wednesday morning at Brindlee Mountain Middle School between Guntersville and Arab. District Attorney Steve Marshall opened the meeting with some sobering statistics. "The first meeting of this task force was almost two months ago," Marshall said. "Since that time we have made six meth trafficking cases, 28 distribution cases, 34 possession cases and three manufacturing cases for a total of 71 meth cases. All other drug cases totaled 23. Over 70 percent of our new drug cases since we last met have been meth cases." The task force wanted to hear what kinds of drug problems educators face, how they are teaching students to resist drugs and how the task force can help those efforts. The superintendents talked about Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or D.A.R.E. programs, drug resistance information presented during health classes, and school resource officers serving as a deterrent to drug activity in the school. Some mentioned that they have hired special teachers to work with at- risk students to learn ways to resist peer pressure to do drugs and learn anger management and conflict resolution skills. Albertville Superintendent of Education Rob Sparkman said crystal methamphetamine abuse doesn't seem to be a problem in his schools. "We just finished a survey, and alcohol, tobacco and violence were the most common problems among our student body," he said. "Teachers probably rated violence, like fighting and intimidation, higher than anything else." Just because drugs aren't evident in schools doesn't mean that students aren't using them. D.A.R. High School Principal Charles Edmonds Jr. said a group of former students distributes meth in the Grant area. "(Students) know at three o'clock they can go to a certain residence and get it," he said. Prescription medications have been a problem in Arab schools, Arab Superintendent Edwin Cooley said. Edmonds and Cooley said they have worked with city police to write tickets to students who use tobacco products on school grounds, at one time a prevalent problem. Those students must show up in city court with their parents and pay a fine or perform community service in addition to the schools' punishment for the infraction. A court date can get parents' attention, but getting their involvement is often difficult. Sparkman said the task force could help school systems by finding funding so schools could hire a person to work with parents, knocking on doors and sitting down with them to teach them how to support their children in school. "These problems we are talking about are really home problems," Sparkman said. Investigator Bill Stricklend of the district attorney's office asked if superintendents have done any surveys about violence in the students' homes. "I think if we could survey kids, we would find that crystal meth is what is causing the violence at home," he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Jackl