Letter: Periodic drug searches at PHS sound very reasonable

Posted 5/2/17

To the editor:

Question for the parents of PHS students and residents of Portsmouth whose taxes pay for public education: Should PHS be a drug-free school? If your answer is no, read no …

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Letter: Periodic drug searches at PHS sound very reasonable

Posted

To the editor:

Question for the parents of PHS students and residents of Portsmouth whose taxes pay for public education: Should PHS be a drug-free school? If your answer is no, read no further. 

(PHS Principal Joseph) Amaral commented that the school “has exhausted every educational avenue that it can take” and that administrators feel some students are taking advantage of the recent proliferation of marijuana and other illegal drugs and using it as an “entrepreneurial experience.” 

So, PHS is/may not be a drug-free school? Mr. McDaid is concerned about the “collaboration and trust that our Portsmouth PD had worked so hard to achieve.” Mr. Amaral’s words suggest to me that the so-called “environment of collaboration and trust” on the part of students no longer exits. So, now what to do? 

Periodic drug sweeps sound like a very reasonable next step to me and, according to the article, some of the student’s parents. The fact that Middletown or any other town does or does not do these should not influence what our principal, drug prevention coordinators, drug counselors, etc., along with our police department think is necessary. 

The fact that the previous school principal did not do this in his 18 years of service does not mean that the present one shouldn’t either. In fact, perhaps it’s time this approach be taken. For the previous eight years, our country was run by people who couldn’t admit some problems existed, couldn’t call a problem by its proper name, spent more time talking about solutions and making excuses for failures, and put trust in and expected collaboration with those who could not be trusted. What this led to was “kicking the can forward” to leave a mess for their successors. 

Hopefully, this won’t happen in Portsmouth with what appears to be a drug problem at PHS. No shame on us as it exists in schools all around the country. Shame on us if we don’t do what’s necessary to fix it. 

As far as Mr. McDaid’s comments — read the first comment of his appearing in the article: “While the goal of maintaining a drug-free school may be laudable …” A drug-free school “may be” a laudable goal?

Joseph J. Barek, Jr.

155 Watson Drive

Portsmouth

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