Edmond students discuss drug use

"About half the people who spoke during an Edmond Public Schools forum mentioned drug use in the schools, especially the high schools," Matt Patterson reports today in The Oklahoman.

Andrea Batt, a senior at Edmond North, also spoke. She said her fellow students often talk openly in front of school staff about drug use, but little is done.

“I think it's a really sad situation because everyone knows it's there but everyone feels like they are so powerless to do anything about it,” she said.

Kevin Hill has three children in Edmond schools, including a son who is a junior at Edmond Memorial. Hill said he was shocked to see that several students who were arrested for drug possession off school grounds before the Christmas break took part in extracurricular activities during the break.

"It made me sick to my stomach," Hill said. "I am of the belief that it shouldn't matter whether they were arrested on school grounds. It's not a right to play baseball, or whatever the extracurricular activity is. It's appalling to me that the district doesn't have policies that let these coaches deal with these situations."

Dawn Craft said her younger sister has been bullied for reporting another student's drug use. She said more needs to be done to protect those who report drug use and other rules violations in the schools.

“When that student returned to school after being suspended, the bullying started,” Craft said. “There was stalking and assault and battery. She's the one who did the right thing, and she is the one being picked on and run off. How are any of these students going to come forward when they see that?”