Subj: Sco: Lib Dems' leader says schools should not automatically expel young users 



Date: Friday 20 November 1998



Source: The Scotsman





Lib Dems' leader says schools should not automatically expel young users 

TOM LITTLE  Education Correspondent 



CHILDREN who openly use drugs in Scottish schools should not face automatic

expulsion, the Liberal Democrats will tell headteachers today. 



Jim Wallace, the party's Scottish leader, will say that the only case for

immediate exclusion is if a pupil is caught trying to sell drugs to other

youngsters. 



Mr Wallace's stance comes after a series of high-profile cases of drugs

being found in schools which led to conflicting messages from Government

ministers. It will anger those who are demanding a zero tolerance approach. 



Mr Wallace is expected to sympathise with headteachers, who, he will say,

are being "squeezed" between the demand of parents and those of politicians. 



He will say: "A zero tolerance regime simply won't work - every individual

case must be studied and judged on its merits. For example, overt drug use

could be interpreted as bravado, but it could equally be a cry for help.

And it is help which is needed in all cases. 



"We must redouble our effort to educate young people of the dangers of

drugs so they know what risks they take. Penalise the pushers - exclude

them certainly, deliver them for prosecution, and hope young people get the

message." 



Mr Wallace will make his comments at the annual conference of the

Headteachers' Association of Scotland (HAS), the main union for secondary

school heads, in Crieff. 



He is expected to call for an increase in drug awareness training for

teachers, and a clear framework for headteachers and local authorities on

how to deal with offenders. 



A Scottish Office spokesman said Helen Liddell, the education minister, had

already set up a task force to address such matters. It came after an

11-year-old boy was found in school with UKP500 worth of heroin. In another

case, a seven-year-old Stirling boy handed a smaller amount of the drug to

his teacher. 



Earlier this week, Mrs Liddell indicated that habitual drug users should be

expelled from school, apparently taking a harder line than Estelle Morris,

the schools minister for England and Wales. However, both said each case

should be judged on its merits. 



Tino Ferri, the Scottish executive member of the National Association of

Schoolmasters and Union of Women Teachers, dismissed the views expressed by

the two ministers and Mr Wallace as "ridiculous". 



He said: "Parents would not want to think their kids could be sharing a

classroom with a known drug user. There is no room for a softly, softly

approach. It is sensible to expel drug users. It is a criminal activity and

cannot be condoned." 



At the HAS conference yesterday, Professor John MacBeath, of Strathclyde

University, defended the Government's target-setting exercise for schools,

which he helped to shape as a member of the Scottish Office action group on

standards. 



Delegates criticised the use of free meals entitlement to compare schools'

socio-economic background but Prof MacBeath insisted that the statistics,

while not perfect, were the best tool available.