Athletic Announcements

December 16th Lock Down

 

Parents/Guardians                                                                                        December 17, 2010

On Thursday, 12-16-2010, the Henry County Sheriff’s department (in cooperation with the Napoleon Police Department and Sheriff Departments from Williams Co., Defiance Co., and Fulton Co.), organized a drug sweep through the middle and high schools using K-9 units. This is the second time in less than a year that all agencies have collaborated in an attempt to keep drugs out of our schools. The dogs checked every student’s locker, several classrooms and all cars parked in the school parking lot. The dogs were not permitted to check students; therefore, no contact between the dogs and students occurred.

The obvious question, why is the school asking local police agencies to search the school for drugs? Rational: there have been many reports of students using drugs outside of school, often before coming to campus in the morning. Once the school was made aware of the problem, we worked closely with the Henry County Sheriff’s Department to remedy the situation. The last two searches did not result in the discovery of illegal drugs in the school. Even though the previous searches did not uncover evidence of drugs within the buildings, because the K-9 units are not permitted to search students, it is uncertain if the presence of drugs actually exists.

The perceived drug problem needs to be kept in perspective. The overwhelming majority of students at Liberty Center Middle and High schools are not using illegal drugs! However, there is a small core of students in both the middle and high school who are involved in regular drug use. The fear is that the small group of drug users will attempt to influence other students into experimenting with drugs. At this point, the school needs the cooperation of parents and the community to help eliminate this serious problem.

The Henry County Sheriff’s Department has asked that any suspicious activity be reported immediately to 419 592-8010. Parents are highly encouraged to have a serious discussion with their children to determine what they know about the drug situation. The community as a whole has to decide that illegal drug use is not going to be tolerated and be willing to report illegal activity (for both children and adults) to local authorities. The greatest concern as a school is that one of our children is going to make a decision that could be catastrophic or fatal! If you have any concerns, or would like to discuss the situation in greater detail, you are encouraged to contact your child’s building administrator.