Students Forced to Switch Schools for Using Alcohol or Marijuana
Since September, a new school district policy has resulted in more than 14 students being transferred from their high schools to other schools for using alcohol or illegal substances.
The students, involved in six separate incidents, range in age from 13 to 18. All of the incidents involved alcohol or marijuana.
The transfers are part of a new policy drafted this summer by the Newport Mesa Unified School District to deter drug and alcohol use by teen-agers. The regulations, among the toughest in the county, call for an automatic transfer the first time a student is found under the influence of illegal substances. Students caught a second time can be expelled.
The success of the policy was discussed this week at a school board meeting.
“The word that I get is that the policy has had a tremendous effect on the average kid on campus,” said board member Tom Williams, adding that the principal at one high school said behavior at school dances had been “transformed pretty dramatically.”
Board President Sherry Loofborrow said that she is also pleased with what she has heard about the policy, though she added that it is too soon to judge the overall effectiveness of the regulations.
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