PARENTS' CONCERNS SPUR CD'S DRUG FIGHT

The doors of Central Dauphin East High School are covered with
posters bearing the signatures of "students who pledged to be drug
and alcohol free." Greg. Kayla. Rasheem. Heather. Brittany. Marc.
Class of '06, a few students wrote proudly beneath their names. Class of '09.

The posters celebrate National Red Ribbon Week, a drug-prevention
initiative sparked by the death of Enrique "Kiki" Camarena, a special
agent for the federal Drug Enforcement Agency who was tortured and
killed by drug traffickers in Mexico in 1985.

Though the DEA says that more than 80 million Americans wear red
ribbons or participate in other anti-drug activities during the
October week, the event had not been observed in all 19 schools in
the Central Dauphin School District until this year.

But after a group of parents stood at a Central Dauphin School Board
meeting in January and announced that their children had bought and
used heroin and other drugs at Central Dauphin High School, a
committee of parents, principals, administrators and others has
formed to investigate ways to battle drug abuse among teens,
including a district-wide observance of Red Ribbon Week.

The Central Dauphin School District Drug Task Force, with 76 members,
has researched drug policies at other districts and presented
drug-prevention programs to teach parents the signs of drug abuse by
teens. Last week, about 200 people signed up for workshops on drug
prevention, where former addicts and parents whose children became
addicted to drugs related their experiences.

Chairwoman Caroline Allen admitted that she sometimes wonders if such
programs are "preaching to the choir" -- attracting those who already
know about the drug problem among teens. The stories of former teen
addicts and their parents, and information from police and
drug-prevention advocates, seem to bring passionate conversation and awareness.

"I would have to say, yeah, we are reaching" parents and students, Allen said.

Perhaps it's the realization that families anywhere, in the city or
the suburbs, can be touched by drug abuse.

"I think anybody who comes to these programs knows that this problem
can come into any home," said Michael Mausner, Central Dauphin School
Board president.

At 19, Danielle Beshore, a York County resident, is a recovering
cocaine addict who has gone through several rehab programs and has
been drug-free for more than seven months. She would steal clothing
from stores while on shopping trips for school wear and pocket the
spending money her mother gave her, buying drugs with it instead, she said.

She hid cocaine in her mother's bedroom -- under the bed, even in her
mother's sock drawer -- because it was the last place her mother
would search for drugs, she said.

Beshore said she often skipped classes in the West Shore School
District. "A lot of times when I went to school, it was to get
drugs," she noted.

Karen Bowe's son used heroin, getting it at Lower Dauphin High
School, she said. "My son tells me it is one of the most prevalent
drugs in the Lower Dauphin School District," she said.

She said she was struck by the availability of drugs in her
neighborhood on a trip to a suburban grocery store with her son, a
recovering addict. In the parking lot, they walked past a group of
teens hanging out when she said her son told her, "They're dealing
drugs right there."

Normal Purcell told the Central Dauphin School Board in January that
her son bought heroin from a student at Central Dauphin High and used
it in the bathroom. He also drove into Harrisburg to buy it on the
streets, she said at a task force workshop last week.

Some in the audience found the information disturbing: It was easy
for students to get and hide drugs in the suburbs, and avoid
detection. Parents lamented that laws forbid them from enrolling
their teens in rehabilitation programs without the children's
consent, and prevent school personnel from searching students for drugs.

Russ Goodrich, a Central Dauphin resident who has three children in
district schools, found the problem frustrating. At home, he and his
wife do everything they can to keep drugs out of their children's
lives, he said.

"I do look through their book bags. I do look through their drawers.
I do screen their friends," Goodrich said. "We are not a democratic
household." Yet schools are prevented by laws from such vigilance, he said.

"I think search-and-seizure laws should end at the door of schools,"
he said. "Nobody seems willing to push legislation through that
allows for a more aggressive approach to get drugs out of schools.
It's a big enough problem. It should be a big enough problem at the Capitol."