School board vetoes idea for drug abuse committee
By Dustin Siena Special to The Acorn

Debbie Sandland SVUSD trustee

The Simi Valley Unified school board "just said no" this week to a proposed drug abuse advisory committee because of what trustees said was a lack of funding.

The committee was proposed by trustee Rob Collins, who said he felt the district needed to get a better grasp on drug use issues affecting Simi Valley students.

"I think this is such a critical issue," Collins said. "I think we're talking a life-and-death safety issue that we need to address. . . . All we're asking for is an advisory committee to come and see what's happening out there."

Despite Collins' ardent urging during Tuesday's meeting, other board members, including president Janice DiFatta, said they could not support such a committee because the budget would not allow for it at this time.

"It's difficult when suggestions like this come forward because I don't think any board member wants to appear as though we're ignoring the issue," DiFatta said. "For example, the issue of whether or not we would choose to implement random drug testing would certainly have budget implications and policy implications as well. For this reason I believe formation of a committee of this type is premature at this point."

Trustee Debbie Sandland said that before forming a drug advisory committee, the board should further investigate the current programs implemented in the school district to fight drug abuse.

"I know that all of us are very concerned about drug abuse, but we are doing a lot in our schools now. Maybe the first step in looking at this would be seeing what we're doing now in our schools," Sandland said. "That would be a great start just to get a report of the various programs that do cover the drug abuse issue and see."

Unruffled by his colleagues' arguments, Collins said he didn't see any real reason why this committee shouldn't be formed- and formed now.

"I don't see that as a big district cost. I have nurses, teachers, athletic directors, community people who think it's a good idea and they'd like to be part of it," Collins said. "And they think it's an urgent need. And I don't see any reason why we want to postpone it. We want to get going and get this committee formed as quickly as possible."

Although all other board members acknowledged that drug use was an important issue in the district, in the end, they said, they didn't feel it fit into the board's budget or priorities.

"It's going to impact our budget. It's going impact our policy direction," DiFatta maintained.

The school board will determine what impact the existing drug education programs are having, and it will revisit the issue of forming a drug advisory committee after their upcoming school board workshop meeting.