This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Politics & Government

Drug Use in Brentwood Schools to be Topic of Forum

The forum follows a debate about a potential drug testing program for students participating in extracurricular activities.

A forum is planned for January to discuss drug prevention methods in Brentwood schools.

At its meeting Tuesday night, the Brentwood Board of Education unanimously agreed to hold the forum. The agreement follows previous division about the best way to address a perceived drug abuse problem in the schools.

In September, school board members began debating possibly adding a drug testing program for students participating in extracurricular activities.

Find out what's happening in Maplewood-Brentwoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

District administrators and Brentwood police officers to discuss the potential program. Other ideas, such as an increased role for a school resource officer, emerged at the meeting.

A date hasn't been set for the January forum, but Superintendent Dr. Charles Penberthy described how the meeting will work.

Find out what's happening in Maplewood-Brentwoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The forum will be “a fishbowl type of conversation,” Penberthy said, where everyone would be encouraged to participate. 

A panel consisting of board members, administrators, public safety officers and parents will initiate discussion.

“At the end, we would open the meeting up to questions and comments from the audience,” Penberthy said. “That can be part of our fact-finding, to see where everybody is at and what they would like us to do.” 

For example, is support stronger for a drug testing program, or would most people prefer to see an alternative plan? Perhaps there are other resources that are more effective, Penberthy said.

“I think folks are interested and supportive of us furthering this discussion," board member Katrina Harper said. “I don’t think we’re close to knowing what our plan should be."

The forum is expected to happen before college students return to their respective campuses.

That’s because the school board wants to tap its recent graduates for information on drug use in the district, and for their ideas on how to reduce or prevent it. 

“I think we need the perspective of someone fresh out the environment,” board member Michelle Hassemer said. “A lot of us have kids, or know kids, that we can ask on the down low what they think about drug use. But I don’t want to put a student in a bad situation, in a situation that might be awkward when they went back to school.”

Recent graduates aren't involved in daily operations and can be more candid than current students, Penberthy said.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Maplewood-Brentwood