In compliance with Section 96 of Opioid Bill H.4056 signed by Governor Baker on March 14, 2016, the Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational School District is posting current policies related to drug and alcohol use.

District Policy JICH: Alcohol Use by Students
In view of the fact that the use of alcohol can endanger the health and safety of the user, and recognizing the deleterious effect the use of alcoholic beverages can have on the maintenance of general order and discipline, the School Committee prohibits the use of, serving of, or consumption of any alcoholic beverage on school pro­perty or at any school function.

Additionally, any student, regardless of age, who has been drinking alcoholic beverages prior to attendance at, or participation in, a school-sponsored activity, will be barred from that activity and subject to disciplinary action.

District Policy JICHA: Drugs Use by Students
The BVT Regional School District Committee recognizes that drug abuse is a serious and common problem which detrimentally affects the user.

The BVT Regional School District Committee accepts the responsibility to do all it can, within its power and authority, to prevent drug abuse among its students and to deter the unlawful sale, exchange, distribution, and/or use of illicit or illegal drugs and/or paraphernalia on school premises including school buses and at events authorized or sponsored by school authorities.

The BVT Regional School District Committee authorizes its school administration to cooperate with law enforcement agencies in matters of the control and/or the elimination of drug trafficking by students associated with this school district.

All enrolled students shall be subject to the rules and regulations as stated in the approved Student Handbook under the heading, “Conduct of Students.”

All faculty members shall be advised about drug abuse and shall be encouraged to participate positively in school efforts to eradicate drug abuse among students.

The school’s Program of Studies shall include units of instruction related to the harmful effects and the criminal nature and consequences of drug abuse.

District Policy IHAMA: Teaching About Drugs, Alcohol, and Tobacco
In accordance with state and federal law, the District shall provide age-appropriate, developmentally based drug and alcohol education and prevention programs in grades 9-12.

The drug and alcohol education program shall address the legal, social, and health consequences of drug and alcohol use. It shall include special instruction as to the effects upon the human system; the emotional, psychological and social dangers of such use with emphasis on nonuse by school age children and the illegal aspects of such use. The program also shall include information about effective techniques for resisting peer pressure to use illicit drugs or alcohol.

The objectives of this program, as stated below, are rooted in the Committee’s belief that prevention requires education, and that the most important aspect of the policies and guidelines of the District should be the education of each individual to the dangers of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.

• To relate the use of drugs and alcohol to physical, mental, social and emotional practices.
• To create an awareness of the total drug problem — prevention, education, treatment, rehabilitation, and law enforcement on the local, state, national and international levels.
• To develop the student's ability to make intelligent choices based on facts and to develop the courage to stand by one's own convictions.
• To understand the personal, social and economic problems causing the misuse of drugs and alcohol.
• To develop an interest in preventing illegal use of drugs in the community.

The curriculum, instructional materials and outcomes used in this program shall be recommended by the Superintendent-Director and approved by the School Committee.