A reader writes:
Dear Janet,
I read an article yesterday in the NOW paper about Whitnall needing a drug sniffing dog, because drugs and alcohol are a problem. My question is where are the parents who should know what their kids are doing, so drugs aren't a problem? They bring up the dance where kids were drunk. Where did they get the alcohol? I am getting tired of hearing everything wrong with society is the school's problem, why not put some responsibility on the parents?
Maybe it is because the parents are drinking. At a couple of [my child’s] Scout[ing] end of year events, parents were drinking in front of the kids. I know drinking at [Scouting] things is prohibited, but that didn't stop the parents. I suppose I could go on and on, but I won't to you.
[A Franklin Parent]
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"I guess what I'm looking at is that they're screaming at us that we have a drug issue," [Board member]Anderson said. "I understand we're working on it, but they're asking us … to (take) action."
[...]
"I'm embarrassed for you," [Whitnall] district resident Jim Gilboy said. "This has been going on for as long as you've been on the board. I'm embarrassed that you're not getting more cooperation from your administration to address the problem. It sounds like lots of baby steps and no aggression."
Drug-sniffing dog joins Whitnall efforts í here
STAR-BULLETIN / DECEMBER 2004
At the private Academy of the Pacific (Maui), golden retriever Custer and his handler,
Whitney White, give a demonstration on how the dog finds illegal contraband in a locker.
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Okay....
I can't say that I know the full story of Whitnall and the drug and alcohol problems at their schools.
But I think the Franklin Parent who sent me the above email is on the right track.
While it is true we don't want drugs and alcohol in the schools, and we have to make sure they are not there, we need to remember these kids who are abusing drugs and alcohol at school have got to be doing it at home too.
Are their parents, and have their parents over the years, been supervising these children?
Do they know their friends?
Do they know where they are going?
What they are doing?
Where are their kids getting their money?
Do these parents spend any family and quality time with their children?
Are the parents involved in school?
And about the alcohol being used by parents at Scouting functions.
In all my years as a leader and being involved in both Girl and Boy Scouts I had never heard of alcohol at any scouting function.
Granted, this was many years ago.
Scouting functions are a time for bonding between parents and children.
Not for socializing between parents.
Someone involved in the organization of whatever Scouting event this was has lost touch and needs to get their priorities straight before they work with these events anymore.
So are the public schools to shoulder the blame for the drug and alcohol problems?
Or do parents need to get their acts together before they throw stones?
Just who is responsible?
