Tuesday, November 13, 2018
Dear Oconomowoc High School Community,
As a community, we have the critical task of working together to
ensure the safety of everyone at Oconomowoc High School (OHS). One threat
students may face among peers is the exposure to drugs and alcohol. In recent
years, OHS, in coordination with our district and community advocacy groups,
has taken steps to help educate our students on the dangers of drug and alcohol
use and empower students to resist any temptation to use them.
One such preventative measure is that we have partnered with the
Waukesha County Sheriff’s K-9 team. A few times throughout the year, we invite
the team to complete a search for illegal drugs around our entire campus and
building. This measure makes it clear we are serious about OHS being a
drug-free community. Today, we conducted an unannounced search of our entire
campus. In total, the search lasted about 65 minutes and caused minimal disruption to our school day. For the
search to be efficient, the building was placed in a non-emergency lockdown,
which means that teachers were asked to continue with their lessons and
students were asked to stay in their classrooms for the duration of the search.
Often, people want to know the results of these searches. However, to protect
the confidentiality of the members of our community, we do not publicly share
the results.
There are other preventative measures our community offers.
Additional measures offered include our Random Drug Testing Policy, which
requires students to agree to random drug testing if they participate in clubs
or sports or if they have purchased a campus parking pass. In addition, the
Student and Family Assistance Program provides free counseling sessions to
families through Aurora Health Care. Site-based counseling opportunities are
also available at OHS through Gals Institute, LLC and Waukesha Family Services.
Together, these efforts help provide our students and families appropriate
resources to support a safe and healthy lifestyle.
Again, today’s procedure is just another way to ensure the safety
of everyone on our campus and to give students an excuse to say “no” to any
pressure they may face when confronted with the opportunity to use or carry an
illegal drug.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at
CurtisJ@oasd.org.
Thank you!
Jason Curtis
Principal
