Bauxite H.S. and drugs? (work, house, college)

[Lora]

We have only lived in the State of Arkansas since April and it's been a change for us. We just built a house in Bauxite and my kids started school there this school year.

We have lived in 3 different states and my son told me that there are a lot of kids who talk about drugs at this school. This concerns me. My son is a very good boy and he doesn't like this at all. He is a freshman at Bauxite H.S. My daughter is a sophomore and she said that it is not that bad.

Of course, my concern is peer pressure and what kind of kids go to this school?

I've contacted the school and they seem to think that there isn't really a drug problem and they don't have much for a anti-drug program but once a year. The other schools my children have gone to had posters all over the school discouraging drug use and encouraging to stand up against it.

[undertheironsea]

It's called high school, honestly.

Unless you homeschool the kid, there is going to be drug talk somewhere, somehow. Such is life. Posters don't do a thing, they just make the people that post them feel better. If your son is a good kid, trust him. Tell him to ignore it. I ignored it through high school and college myself and I did just fine.

[arguy1973]

Might be the crowd that your son has chosen to hang out with? Or since he is new, has chosen to hang out with him? Certain groups in any high school are into different things, unfortunely some of those "things" are drugs.

[Stormcrow73]

Yeah, very good point arguy. Some schools here in AR are pretty insular and making friends can be hard. There's a definite pecking order in schools here and the new kids usually start off at the bottom unless they're athletic and then they'll be practically heralded as the second coming!

That doesn't solve your problem though and saying it's in all schools is unacceptable as well. Letting it go puts us on the slippery slope. First off, you HAVE to find out what drugs are being used and how rampant it is. Pulling that from teenagers will be understandably difficult but until you have some data (even poorly gained data is better than no data at all) you'll have trouble getting people to wake up. Work it up the chain of command. If you get dead ended at the Super and Board levels then use the police and local media to raise awareness. But don't even think of going to the latter until you've reached your wits end with school admin. If you go to church, start talking to your church leaders. These are powerful forces in most AR towns and good allies to have!

[Capt. Dan]

I have raised 3 daughters and each of them told me that when they were new in school they were included in conversations about drugs but they thought the older students were including them in the conversation so they could get some indication as to wether the new student may have "connections." just something to think about.