NEW RULE CLAMPS DOWN ON LOOK-ALIKE DRUGS

NEWPORT NEWS -- Oregano masquerading as marijuana. Sugar as cocaine.
An over-the-counter pill as Ecstasy.

A new school system rule in Newport News, approved by the School
Board Wednesday night, prohibits the distribution, sale or purchase
of any drug look- alike substance. Also, any action that contributes
to the possession of any look-alike substance is banned, the new rule
says.

The School Board agreed to various amendments to its Rights and
Responsibility Handbook that ranged from language changes to new
disciplinary actions for misrepresentation, which includes lying and
cheating.

The board annually reviews recommendations to update the handbook
from a committee made up of administrators, students and community
members. The group met last month to develop its report.

Warwick High School Principal Gene Jones, who served as the group's
co-chairman, said that the changes to rules don't necessarily mean
schools are encountering widespread problems in those areas.

"It's not that we are seeing a rash of look-alikes," he said. "It's
not that we are seeing a rash of misrepresentation. You have to be
ready for changes and be ahead of the curve so when something does
happen you'll be ready for it."

It's difficult to say how often students are found with look-alike
drugs. If it has happened, officials would have logged the incident
under an "other" category listed in the handbook, Jones said.

He said he believed mostly middle schools might encounter the
look-alike drug issue because of the "buyer not being savvy to know
what it is and you are presenting it as such. It's the same thing as
if it were the real thing," Jones said. "In lower grades, kids who
are trying to experiment, unfortunately you might see that."

Another change to the handbook involves a wider range of sanctions
for fourth-through 12th-graders who violate a rule on
misrepresentation. The rule says students will not lie or cheat, for
example, by making false statements, written or oral, to anyone of
authority.

A fourth-through 12-grader used to face a penalty that ranged from a
six-to 10-day suspension to expulsion. Now it's intervention to
expulsion. Intervention includes such actions as detention, a
contract with a student and parent stating how the student will
improve his behavior and referral to a counselor.