Drug epidemic hits BVA

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP - The Belle Vernon Area School Board vowed Monday to take a different approach to curbing illicit drug use at the high school.

Several parents came to the board meeting to complain that a drug problem at the school has reached "epidemic" proportions.

"According to Troy Sweitzer, a probation officer with the Westmoreland County Juvenile Probation Office who serves the Belle Vernon district, 70 to 75 percent of the students at the high school have either tried drugs or are currently using," parent Chris Kubitza said. "He also stated that the main drugs being used are prescription medications and heroin.

"We know that the school is trying and we realize there are programs and procedures currently in place to deal with this problem. However, whatever is currently being done apparently is not enough given the statistics that we have.

More than 80 residents, most of them students' parents, attended the meeting.

"All of us here tonight want you to know that you have our support in dealing with this problem and we will help in any way that we can," Kubitza told the board.

Parent Amy Smaracheck said she became concerned after her son, an elementary school student, came home with drug paraphernalia he found at a bus stop.

"He carried that crack pipe all day at school," she said. "He brought it home. It fell out of his coat pocket the next day and I was floored. It was a brand new toy. To him, it was wonderful. There was still stuff in it."

Natalie Manack said her teenage son, a Belle Vernon Area High School student, suffers from a serious drug problem that played out in school.

"What was going on was unimaginable," she said, noting that her son resorted to stealing from family members to pay for drugs. "Imagine my shock the day I went into a local pawn shop and saw a large portion of my jewelry in the case.

"He and his friends had been experimenting with opiates, hydrocodone and Oxycontin and many other types of painkillers that I know now are comparable to heroin."

Manack said her son is in treatment and has suffered from relapses.

"He does want to get better, but this is a long, hard process," she said. "The judges told my son that there are only two outcomes to this drug: death or jail."

Manack said she doesn't want to see other children have the same problems.

"It's time to let the kids know that we are watching them and want to help them out a bit," she said. "Let's not wait until one of our kids dies to realize that we need to do something to help this situation."

Rostraver Police Lt. John Christner said he has heard firsthand about the problems at the high school.

"When a student tells me it's easier to get a pill than a piece of gum, that's a problem," he said.

The school board members said they have taken a proactive approach in fighting drugs at the high school, two middle schools and two elementary schools.

Board President Aaron Bialon said offenders have been disciplined to the fullest extent.

However, the board supported taking another angle on fighting drugs.

"Whatever we're doing, something isn't working here," Director Dale Patterson said. "Apparently, we need to try harder.

"I'm not accepting the responsibility that the school district caused this problem. I think we know that this is a community problem and everyone in the community has to work together to solve this problem."

The board unanimously approved a motion from Patterson to form a drug task force consisting of school board members, district administrators, faculty and students, and local police.

Patterson will represent the school board on the panel.

He said the task force will start immediately.

Its first meeting will be 6 p.m. Monday at the district administration building.

Anyone interested in serving on the task force can attend.

Jason Demko offered his service to the district as a K-9 drug dog trainer free of charge.

Demko, who has lived in Belle Vernon for the past year, said he spent about 12 years searching for illegal narcotics on military bases nationwide.

He also has trained dogs for several Pittsburgh-area police departments.

"Research by the National Institute on Drug Abuse for the last five years has shown the percentage of eighth graders having used illegal drugs has doubled," Demko said. "There was approximately a 50 percent increase in the last five years in use for 11th and 12th graders."

Demko said he would bring drug dogs into the district if the school board or district administrators ask him to do so.

He said the dogs would search areas to determine whether drugs are present.

It would then be up to district officials to initiate a search, which they can conduct on school property by law once probable cause is established, Demko said.

Demko said he would provide a demonstration for the board before it decides whether to use his services.

During a break in the board's meeting, Manack and Kubitza said they were pleased with the board's response.

"They were very receptive," Kubitza said. "I think they are trying and they are doing things, but it's just statistically it is showing that we need to do more things, or something else.

"I feel that we're off to a good start. I think the awareness alone will go a long way to solve this."

"It was wonderful to see the support," Manack said. "It's not the school's fault ... but I would like to see it get better."

Smaracheck said she was proud to be part of the group of parents that approached the board.

"What they're doing now obviously isn't working, so putting together a task force was probably something that should have been done years ago," she said.