Drug probe under way at Stevenson High

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Updated: May 7, 2012 12:29PM

Adlai Stevenson High School officials say they are investigating the use of illegal drugs by a student that has led them to a number of other students.

While not revealing the number of students facing suspension at the Lincolnshire school, Jim Conrey, spokesman for District 125, said Wednesday the probe started with just one student regarding “certain activities and then more came to light.”

While marijuana is the main drug targeted in the investigation, “other drugs are also involved,” he said.

Some students have reported that between 100 to 200 students have been suspended or disciplined, but Conrey said: “That’s an exaggeration. From our point of view, one is too many.”

But he did concede “the scope of the students involved is a little larger than we are used to seeing.” He did not have any numbers as to how many students in a school year are disciplined or expelled because of drug use.

Stevenson Superintendent Eric Twadell posted a letter online to parents Wednesday:

“You may have heard Stevenson High School mentioned in the local media over the course of the past couple of days. Although much of what is being reported as news is misinformation and inaccurate, generally speaking, what we can say as it relates to the issue of impairing or intoxicating substances is that we take the matter very seriously.

“With regard to recent news reports, we are limited in the type of information that we share within and outside the school, and as you are well aware, we go to great lengths to maintain the privacy of our students and their confidential student records,” he wrote.

“In order to provide a safe learning environment and ensure our mission of Success for Every Student, we actively investigate potential instances of student misconduct including, but not limited to, the selling, purchasing, possessing, using, or distributing of impairing or intoxicating substances, or participating in a plan to do so,” he wrote.

Lincolnshire Police Chief Peter Kinsey did not return a telephone call.

Twadell said affected students and their families are given opportunities “to access counseling and therapeutic support and services.”

Conrey said a number of students each year choose the wrong path and have to be dealt with, the same at any other high school district. “It’s not new,” he said.