Pubdate: Sat, 15 Apr 2006 Source: Washington Post (DC) Page: A13 Copyright: 2006 The Washington Post Company Contact: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491 Author: Sue Saltzman Goldstone Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n415/a06.html WHY SINGLE OUT OUR SCHOOL? As the parent of two alumni of Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, I was incensed by an April 5 Metro article about three Smith students arrested in Israel for allegedly buying or using marijuana at a school there. I wonder about the motives behind this coverage of an event that should have been handled privately among the teens, their parents and the school. According to Montgomery County police, there were 438 arrests of juveniles in the county on drug charges in 2005. Very little, if any, media coverage surrounded these unfortunate incidents. How then did Smith students become such a focal point of media attention? Each year, Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School graduates students who are National Merit Scholars, who have won prestigious math and science awards, who have earned athletic recognition and who have contributed significantly to our community, yet that does not seem newsworthy to Post editors. I would like to see the same standards applied for our public school students that The Post apparently holds for our Jewish students. Sue Saltzman Goldstone Brookeville - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake