Hollister school district discusses impact of Marijuana laws
New state marijuana laws have many districts talking about the impact on students.
Tuesday it was a big topic at the Hollister School District board meeting.
The schools are teaming with law enforcement to keep cannabis out of student’s hands.
A big part of the discussion is how legalized marijuana has changed things in schools.
“‘What will our collective efforts be to ensure our students receive a consistent message throughout the community about the harmful effects of marijuana?’,” one of the questions of discussion as read by superintendent Dr. Lisa Andrew.
District officials say they’ve also talked about it in their classrooms.
“We actually begin this conversation in kindergarten, we continue it in second grade, fourth grade, sixth grade, seventh and eight grade,” Andrew said.
“It’s important that you kind of have that evolving training for different trends and this is one of those issues that we’ve trained on a lot,” said Chief David Westrick of the Hollister Police Department.
The chief says so far, he hasn’t seen a growing problem.
“We’re being proactive in this issue before it becomes a problem,” Westrick said, “We have not seen an increase in anything really with this particular item.”
But prosecutors say the new rules are making it so they don’t even see these cases.
“The only way I will see these crimes is when it’s not just a possession or under the influence. [I’ll see them] if it’s dealing or if they’re over 18,” said San Benito County District Attorney Candice Hooper.
Still, the school rules haven’t changed.
“The laws when it comes to discipline have not been affected by the decriminalization, so the sale of a controlled substance on school grounds remains a mandatory suspension immediately recommendation for expulsion.”
The district says one of the takeaways from the meeting, may be better training staff to recognize when a student is under the influence of Marijuana.
