Bullying, drugs a problem, survey says

Greenfield High School has a significant problem with bullying and with students being approached by sellers of marijuana and hard drugs, a student risk survey says.

"This one really jumps out," Principal Paul Thusius said of the students' answers to the question of whether they had been bullied at school in the past year. A much higher percent answered in the affirmative than the average of students in 18 other Wisconsin school districts taking the same survey, he said.

"We will definitely focus on this next year," Thusius said.

In fact, the school has been preparing for months to make a push in the coming school year to curb bullying. The new efforts will be on top of initiatives that were started last year, he said.

Another problem area to which the survey pointed is the availability of illegal drugs. Again, a higher percentage of Greenfield High School students said they had been approached by drug sellers than students who answered the same question in the 18 other districts.