The Harlan Community School District’s Board of Education this week received an update on recently held meetings of the district’s Drug and Alcohol Committee. Superintendent Justin Wagner said fifteen community members gathered on five separate occasions to discuss the issue of drugs and alcohol within the school district. Wagner says the first thing the committee wanted was to create a mission statement.

“That mission statement was ‘to reduce or deter underage drinking and drug use in the Harlan Community School district,’ According to Wagner, who said “We really wanted to focus on the things we can control We felt we do a lot of good things right now. This started back at the survey we sent out to the staff, community and students and they said we would like to see you do more.”

Wagner said the committee discussed at length topics including extending extra curricular activities, mentoring programs, peer pressure, accountability for students, uniforms, parent accountability, attendance and drug testing. “Sometimes when you talk about drug testing, it’s really kind of a tricky conversation because I think there are some well intentions out there, “ Wagner said. He added “We have gotten a lot of support on the drug testing side of it. And it’s not because they want to play gotcha with kids. I think the community and folks want the kids to be safe. We want the kids to know we are saying drugs are not good for you… The way the law reads now, students have to agree to be drug tested. Some people agree or disagree but it boils down to if the student says no I don’t want to be drug tested, then it is unconstitutional and illegal.”

The Drug and Alcohol Community Committee decided on four recommendations: working with the Harlan Police Department on attendance if a child misses five days unexcused absences, extend extra curricular activities, establish a Drug and Alcohol informative class for Middle School students and continue to get information to the media and community regarding drugs and alcohol. No board action was necessary with the recommendations. Wagner said the recommendations are being implemented at this time and most of them will tie into the school district’s handbook for the upcoming school year in the fall.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)

The Harlan Community School District’s Board of Education has approved several 1 to 1 initiative upgrades. During the Board’s meeting on Monday, Technology Director Lisa Swanson said that over a three year period, the school has had to replace about 60 percent of the bags each year due to the damage being done over the course of the school year. Currently, students are carrying their laptops in a messenger type bag with the one strap over the shoulder. However, Swanson said High school students take their bag with them everywhere and normally overstuff them with books and other materials which have caused the wear and tear.

Swanson recommended the board approve the purchase of new Airtech backpacks with a logo for all High School students totaling 550 bags at a cost of $33,000. The new backpacks will allow students to put everything from textbooks, papers and their laptop without causing damage. In addition, the backpacks have an air-pocket on the bottom to help protect the computer. The school district will also be replacing the current messenger bags for Middle School students with a more rugged carrying case. The total cost for the middle school replace bags was $16,800. Swanson said both bag purchases were under budget and planned for every year. The school board approved both recommendations as well as the purchase of 37 new laptops for teachers at a cost of $26,145.31 and 60 laptops for students for $28,901.40.

In other business, Superintendent Justin Wagner told the board about the upcoming, new Summer School Program for students. Wagner said with government funding, students can attend classes, eat breakfast and lunch for free before being released over the noon hour. The new program will be spread out throughout the summer months between High school, Middle School and Elementary students. High school students will begin classes on June 2nd through 22nd, Elementary from June 10th-18th and Middle School from the end of July to Early August. Parents will be getting more information regarding the summer school program from their child in the near future.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)