ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : District’s Drug Policy Deserves Support

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District’s Board of Education will be sending a strong message to students this fall when it implements its tough “nearly zero-tolerance” drug policy: Get caught on campus using drugs or alcohol and you’re out--at least out of the school you’re attending.

Under the policy, expected to be finally adopted Aug. 21, students who are found with or under the influence of drugs or alcohol will be transferred to another school in the district. A second offense will result in outright expulsion. As before, any student caught selling drugs on campus will be expelled.

The district will continue its practice of providing help to students who ask for it before there is an incident. Administrators and counselors will also counsel students who have been transferred to another campus.

This policy tells students in no-nonsense terms that drugs and alcohol will not be tolerated in the schools. It is also intended to shake up the peer-group relationships among young people that may be part of the problem. Students will be able to petition to return to their home campuses after a period of time.

Previously, student transfers were an option. Usually, however, students were suspended for up to five days for drug offenses, a policy that school administrators said has proved ineffective as a deterrent because students tended to treat the days as great opportunities to go to Disneyland or Knott’s Berry Farm. “Suspension has not proved to be effective in dealing with the issue,” said Robert Francy, the district’s head of student services.

Some school districts, such as Santa Ana Unified and Saddleback Unified, have tougher policies--expulsion for a first offense. Others are more lenient, providing for suspensions of three to five days on a first offense.

In its new policy, Newport-Mesa chooses a middle ground that is at the same time innovative in its attempt to confront the old and frustrating problem of student drug and alcohol use on campus. The policy deserves the support of parents and students.

District board members and school administrators have promised that a transfer will occur only after full review. This promise should be kept. They will also attempt to make the best possible match for the student’s academic programs on the new campus.

If well-administered, however, Newport-Mesa’s new transfer rule could prove effective in curbing drug and alcohol use by students without unnecessarily interrupting their schooling.