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Editorial: ASAP program a booming success at Ashland High A bright light is shining through the foggy malaise in Ashland's school system. These have been difficult times. The impact of the budget shortfall in the district is devastating. Briscoe Elementary School is closing. Lincoln will soon follow. If Measure 28 fails - and perhaps even if it passes - classroom days must be cut to make ends meet. Teacher days will be reduced. And there is no indication yet that Oregon's Legislature is going to solve the fiscal riddle. If we scratch back in the not-too-distant past, a drug and alcohol policy - dubbed at one time the "zero tolerance" policy - failed in the areas of due process and equal protection for students. A drug and alcohol policy review committee tackled the failed program and made some significant changes. Administrators, faculty, students and community volunteers got things done. It was an overall success, an important change that addressed the needs of our students. Out of the review committee's work came the Ashland Student Assistance Program. Initially, it seemed like a terrific idea. But it also seemed unaffordable. But this Ashland is a different place. ASAP has become a shining beacon guiding students through difficult times and pointing to bright futures. Volunteers - from therapists and clinicians to mental health professionals - are assisting Ashland High School students in the campus health center, "� pretty much every day of the week, all day long" in the words of ASAP volunteer coordinating committee member Paul Copeland. Assessing ASAP from an administrator's position, AHS Assistant Principal Don Valentini said it well: "There is a segment in our society in Ashland that really needs support and they don't have the finances to attain it." It is a policy that is now working, and all those who helped bring it about deserve the community's praise. The old "zero tolerance" approach to problems has been replaced with a policy that helps students with substance abuse problems that includes time outs, contracts for improvement, a peer jury, a non-punitive intervention plan, and just as importantly, a team of professional volunteers to work one-on-one with those who most need it. Thank you volunteers. Thank you ASAP. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -