Damascus High School Principal Denies Drug Problem in E-mail to Parents

Below is an e-mail sent to parents from the Damascus High School Principal, Jennifer Webster, after the NBC4 reports on heroin use at Damascus High School and in the community.

NBC4 stories are here and here.

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From: "DAMASCUS HIGH SCHOOL" <email@blackboardconnect.com>
Date: November 22, 2013 at 8:38:30 PM EST
To:
Subject: News 4 Story

A message from DAMASCUS HIGH SCHOOL

Dear Damascus Community, News 4 aired a story on Thursday and Friday of this week with the headline, “Recent Spike in Heroin Use in Montgomery County.” The story featured a former Damascus High School student who shared her concerns about the use of heroin in Damascus, particularly at Damascus High School. As your principal, I wanted to share my thoughts with you on this story. I appreciate the young lady’s efforts to raise awareness about substance abuse. It is so important to make students, parents and educators aware of the signs, dangers and devastation caused by substance abuse. I am, however, concerned about the characterization of DHS as having a rampant drug abuse problem, as I have not seen evidence of this in my work this year. Damascus is a proud, strong community. The students reflect those values. I have not seen evidence of a culture that finds drug use to be acceptable. To the contrary, I have seen students step forward to share concerns about their classmates when they suspect a problem. Over the last several years, the staff at DHS has taken a number of actions to raise awareness among students, staff and parents about the signs and dangers of drug abuse. These actions have included evening meetings for parents and students and trainings for all staff on the signs and symptoms of drug abuse. When we suspect a student is experimenting with or using drugs, we work alongside families to find resources to help the students. We will continue these efforts of education, prevention and support for our students. Again, I appreciate the intent of the news story to raise awareness about drug abuse, including heroin use. I think the responsibility for education, prevention and support is the responsibility of the school, alongside members of our community. Our school leadership and PTSA, alongside the Montgomery County Police, had already planned to host an informational meeting for parents and students in January to provide prevention and support resources, as well as an update on the current state of drug use in our community. Please watch for more information about that meeting, and we would love to see you there. If you have any concerns, please feel free to contact me. Best, Jenn

This e-mail has been sent to you by DAMASCUS HIGH SCHOOL. To maximize their communication with you, you may be receiving this e-mail in addition to a phone call with the same message. If you wish to discontinue this service, please inform DAMASCUS HIGH SCHOOL IN PERSON, by US MAIL, or by TELEPHONE at (301) 253-7030.