The Wetzel County Board of Education Aug. 4 officially declared war on the unlawful use of prescription drugs in schools, adopting and endorsing campaign aimed at adults, “Don’t Be Your Child’s Drug Dealer”.

The campaign, designed and presented to the board by Sue Villers, county director of student support services, is targeted at educating adults about the problem, which was associated with some 12 student expulsions last year.

“Parents need to be aware that they, themselves, may be their own child’s ‘drug dealer’,” said Villers. She noted that family medication is the largest, most easily accessible source of prescription drugs that students steal to sell illegally and/or ingest.

Therefore, the campaign will urge adults to “Lock ‘em up: Prescription Drugs,” and encourage them to routinely count their medication in relationship to the date a prescription was last filled. If the math doesn’t work, there’s a problem.

Board Member Amy Dieffenbauch noted that young people take prescription medications indiscriminately, without regard to their purpose. Some of those drugs, she noted, may be anticoagulants, or blood thinners, which are dangerous to persons for whom it was not prescribed.

The campaign also will include continued interdiction, with increased use of improved techniques of surveillance at the school level. One observer at the meeting recalled that law enforcement drug dogs are now being trained to detect some prescription medications.

“Don’t Be Your Child’s Drug Dealer” will draw support from the School Resource Officer program approved by the board earlier this year, from law enforcement in general and the school nurse and related school health programs.

Its message also will be spread through a media public information and education program, presented at PTA and similar meetings, be incorporated into the classroom, and supported through extracurricular groups such as PRIDE and RAZE.

In a separate matter, representatives of Sistersville General Hospital asked the board to approve a school-based health clinic for Paden City elementary and high schools.

SGH Assistant Director of Nursing Patty Snodgrass, Nurse Practitioner Liz Dick and Registered Nurse Trisha O’Neil told board members that the program would be of no cost and no liability to the school system. They said SBHCs have been shown to decrease absenteeism and tardiness, reduce discipline and behavioral problems, and save money by reducing the number of emergency room visits for the wrong reasons.

She noted that the school based health program is set to launch in Tyler County this school year and already serves 30,000 students in 23 West Virginia counties who made 67,000 visits to the SBHC during the 2006-07 school year. The program has been endorsed by PCHS Principal Warren L. Grace Jr. and PCES Principal Tammy Chambers, who was present at the meeting.

Snodgrass explained that the program, which would require signed parental consent, would be funded through state, federal, and private grants, donations, and the student’s primary insurance carrier.

Students without insurance would not be refused services.

The primary caregiver in the SBHC would be a nurse practitioner who can diagnose and treat both students and staff. However, Snodgrass noted that the “program works with, not replaces, a person’s physician or the school nurse.”

Snodgrass said that the services provided by the SBHC would be determined by demand, but typically include health education, treatment of acute illnesses, management of chronic illnesses, and such mental health services as grief counseling, bullying, and suicide prevention.

Board Vice President Bob Patterson, who presided at the meeting, said the board would study the program further with county staff and other school officials and consider adopting it at a later date.

Elsewhere, ArtsLink representative Tina Neil introduced the organization’s “Big Read” program to the board and asked it to support the program in the school system.

The purpose of the “Big Read”, already supported in Tyler County Schools, is to refocus attention on reading as the center of American culture and away from computers and other devices that are often used for entertainment purposes.

The promotion, funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, has chosen “The Call of the Wild”, a 1903 novel by American writer Jack London, because it contains elements and a plot commonly of interest to the school-age population.

Copies of the short novel, as well as a teacher’s guide, will be distributed through county schools and will be kicked off next February with a multi-media campaign that will include the showing of the movie by the same name.

More good news about the school system came from Energy Manager Margaret Sine, who told board members that the school system has saved almost $1.8 million by adopting a cost avoidance program in February 2001.

Sine explained that the savings is calculated by comparing the amount spent for utilities during the first year with actual annual utility costs, which are corrected to weather conditions, energy loads, and price increases.

She also noted that the savings has more than offset the school system’s initial investment of $100,000 paid to Energy Education Inc., a Dallas, Texas, consulting firm that develops customized people-driven energy conservation programs for public schools, colleges and universities, and large churches.

EEI continues to support its customers with three annual seminars to promote new ideas and the latest technology to its customers at no cost. “Wetzel County,” concluded Sine, “went green before it was fashionable.”

Superintendent Bill Jones distributed checks of $1,500 each to representatives of the Hundred and Paden City public libraries. The funds are proceeds earned from the excess levy approved by voters in December 2007. Checks in the same amount will be distributed to all other public libraries in the county.

Before adjourning to its next regularly scheduled meeting, Aug. 18, the board acted on a number of staffing changes, including the approval of substitute professional and service personnel for the 2008-09 school year.

The board also approved the sale of a 1984 Ford box truck as surplus property and authorized PCHS to establish a 7/8 grade girls’ volleyball team, fully paid by the booster organization.