Drug testing in schools

When Crescenta Valley High School instituted a voluntary student drug testing program, a district first, for some it was a sign of innovation and progress in addressing a festering problem, but for others, like student Wayne Park, the distinction was dubious.
The 18-year-old high school senior signed up for anonymous testing, but only because he said he has nothing to prove. He doesn’t use drugs, and said most of his peers don’t either.

“I personally hate the drug issue, and it embarrasses me for the school,” Park said.

But a coalition of teachers, parents and Glendale Unified officials have taken a different position after a steady rise in the number of drug-related suspensions and incidents at the school.

“We were noticing more activity in the past several years at Crescenta Valley High School,” said school board President Greg Krikorian.

Drug, alcohol-related suspensions

At the beginning of the current school year, district officials saw an increase in the number of drug-related suspensions at Crescenta Valley High School, coinciding with more drug use in the area, Deputy Supt. Dick Sheehan said.

Glendale police and Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies have reported an overall rise in drug use in the Crescenta Valley in the past five years.

At the same time, community concerns about substance abuse among teens and young adults have also intensified.

But for all the attention paid to Crescenta Valley High, the number of drug- and alcohol-related suspensions there dropped from 49 in 2007-08 to 32 in 2008-09, according to district statistics. So far, the number has remained fairly flat, with 33 students suspended for drugs and alcohol this year.

But Glendale High School has experienced a significant increase in drug- and alcohol-related suspensions, from 18 in 2008-09 to 35 this year, according to district statistics.

Most of this year’s suspensions were related to marijuana use or possession, according to Glendale Police Department records. One suspension was related to a student who tried to sell Ecstasy at a dance.

But it’s not just the number of drug-related incidents at Crescenta Valley High that has administrators and parents worried, but the nature of the drugs.

Officials said they have seized marijuana, LSD, Xanax, Ecstasy pills and chemical-based products used for inhaling at Crescenta Valley High — as opposed to the pot-centric Glendale High campus.

Still, Park, the senior at Crescenta Valley High, said most incidents on campus that he knew of were related to alcohol, marijuana and smoking cigarettes.

“I think to an extent it is exaggerated, but there is no denying that one exists,” he said.

The number of incidents did slow this year when drug-sniffing dogs were used on campus, said Linda Evans at the Crescenta Valley Drug & Alcohol Prevention Coalition’s April 22 meeting.

With the rising drug-use trend at the two high schools — Hoover High has seen a drop in incidents — school officials said they may expand the voluntary drug testing program to other high schools if it is successful at Crescenta Valley High, Sheehan said.

“The schools are just a microcosm of the community in which they are located,” he said. “There has been an increase in drug arrests that is well documented by the [Glendale Police Department] in the La Crescenta area. And Crescenta Valley obviously sits in the heart of La Crescenta, and therefore, it is a concern for us.”