NEW SALEM — The New Salem/Wendell School Committee has adopted the alcohol, tobacco and drug prevention education program required by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Adoption of the policy — the file name is “IHAMB” — means Swift River School in New Salem will provide students in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade with an evidence-based prevention education that is age- and developmentally appropriate.
According to documents provided by Swift River Principal Kelley Sullivan, the program will “address the legal, social and health consequences of alcohol, tobacco, and drug use, with emphasis on nonuse by school-age children” and address peer pressure to use addictive substances.
This policy is expected to be posted on Erving School Union 28’s website, www.union28.org.
The lengthiest discussion of Thursday night’s meeting pertained to New Salem School Committee member David Briand’s desire to add to policy JICH — pertaining to the use of intoxicating substances on school property — an amendment regarding marijuana in light of the drug’s legalization in the state. Briand said he feels this legalization and the various possible forms of consumption increase the likelihood of a student becoming accidentally intoxicated and he drafted a paragraph he would like added to the prohibition policy. An obligatory first reading was held at Thursday’s meeting.
Briand said marijuana-infused cookies or gummy bears could easily wind up in a child’s hands. His draft includes language that would require school officials to contact an emergency medical professional and parents or guardians if a child on school grounds “is exhibiting behavior which is unusual and uncharacteristic of that student characteristic of someone who is under the influence of an intoxicating substance.”
New Salem School Committee Chairwoman Carla Halpern thanked Briand for bringing up the issue but voiced concern that the amendment might be redundant. She said it is already school policy for parents or guardians to be called if a student is intoxicated or injured in any way. But Jennifer Haggerty, superintendent of schools for Erving School Union 28, said that is not true, as the school nurse or principal make a judgment call on when parents of guardians are contacted.
Halpern proposed a motion to take the JICH policy as it is, but was reminded that this was just a first reading. She also voiced her confidence in the school’s staff.
“We have a staff who make the best calls, literally, that they can. They’re human beings. They’re living in this imperfect world with the rest of us,” she said, adding that there will never be any guarantees of emergencies being unnecessarily reported. “We don’t live in perfection.”
You can reach Domenic Poli at:
dpoli@recorder.com