White Co. Schools Asking For Parents Assistance With Student Health And Safety

White County Director of Schools Kurt Dronebarger released a statement Tuesday asking for parents’ help when it comes to students’ use of e-cigarettes, vapes, and even marijuana, particularly at the high school.

While Dronebarger would not discuss an incident behind the statement, he said that it’s a group effort between the students, parents, and the schools to ensure students’ health and safety.

“We can’t do it alone,” Dronebarger said. “Like I said, these things are not being manufactured at the schools, they’re not being handed out by faculty, our students are bringing this stuff into the schools and we need help. We need help from our parents to be involved with their students and their children, to know what’s going on in their lives, and make sure they’re not bringing this stuff.”

Dronebarger said that he hopes students take this situation seriously, and for parents to not write it off as childish naughtiness. He said these kinds of devices are illegal, and that if students are found with these products, the school will use the law to charge students.

“I mean it’s illegal activity and it’s something that we want to stop happening in our schools,” Dronebarger said. “And our ultimate goal is that we want them to be healthy and we want them to be safe. As adults, it’s our job that farther down the road in life than they are to look back and say these things are dangerous this is a road you don’t want to go down and to steer them onto the right path.”

While the statement was a mixed message with concern about students’ safety and well-wishes for Thanksgiving break, Dronebarger said that he hopes students will take the time away from school to spend time with family and focus on the important things in life, including health and safety.