Redmond High School (RHS) administration sent out letters this week to the families of the 11 students arrested in last Friday’s drug bust, outlining “the consequences” by the school, according to RHS principal Jane Todd.

Todd declined to comment on the specific consequences, but more than likely, the students face some sort of suspension or even expulsion.

“I can say that a warning would not be an appropriate consequence for an infraction of this nature,” Todd said. “I can also say that every student, regardless of the nature of the infraction and the kind of consequence applied, has the right to an appeal.”

It is still to be determined if the students will face some sort of criminal consequences by the King County Prosecutor’s Office.

Redmond Police arrested and charged two 15-year-olds, six 16-year-olds and three 17-year-olds for violation of the uniform controlled substance act following a seven-month undercover operation, according to Redmond Police spokesperson, Jim Bove. There may be more arrests as the investigation is ongoing, Bove said.

It was the biggest school drug bust since 2003, when police arrested five Redmond High students for illegal drugs, according to Bove.

During the undercover operation, officers purchased marijuana, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, ecstasy, and a variety of prescription medications.

“People are naturally worried about how this reflects on RHS, but the vast majority, if my e-mail and casual conversations with students are any indication, feel that this was the right thing to do and that it represents a courageous no-tolerance stance on the part of the police and the school district. … It would be wrong to judge an entire school by the poor decisions made by a few,” Todd said.

The teenage suspects were processed and released by Redmond Police last Friday. Redmond Police will forward the charging documents to the King County Prosecutor’s Office once the investigation is complete, “which is likely 30 days,” Bove said.

COMMUNITY WAKE-UP CALL

Redmond Police and Lake Washington School District officials along with Mayor John Marchione are calling the startling drug bust a “wake-up call” for the community.

“Adults are naive if they think there’s not drugs in every high school,” Marchione told The Reporter following a ribbon cutting ceremony at Eastside Basketball Club last Friday afternoon. “The fact that we can be proactive in reaching out to kids in both rehabilitation and enforcement is important. To pretend drugs don’t exist in high school perpetuates the problem. They’re there and if people are shocked if they are found at Redmond High — or any high school — I think they are naive.”

The most alarming part about the bust was “the variety of drugs,” Bove said.

“We hope it’s a wake-up call to what’s going on in our society,” Bove said. “We hope families use this as a learning opportunity and have conversations with their children, know who their friends are, and educate them on the negative effects of using controlled substances.”

The undercover operation was a collaborative effort with the Redmond High School administration and part of a well-planned undercover operation, targeting the use, possession, and distribution of illegal substances on and off campus since the beginning of the school year.

Bove said all of the charges, which includes use, possession and distribution of illegal substances, “stemmed from the students delivering the drugs to our staff.” In other words, the undercover officers never sold drugs to the students, they only bought them from the students, Bove said.

“It was a collaborative effort,” Bove said. “The Lake Washington School District has a zero tolerance for drugs and so do we. We are not happy this is occurring in our schools, but we hope this makes an impact of getting (drugs) out of our schools and city.”

A PROBLEM EVERYWHERE

Kathryn Reith, Lake Washington School District Communications Director, made clear that the arrests “are not a reflection that there is a (drug) problem at Redmond High.” Instead “it is a reflection that this is an issue at all high schools,” she said.

Reith cited the 2008 Washington State Healthy Youth Survey, which stated that 20.4 percent 10th-graders around the state admitted to using illegal drugs in the last 30 days, while 11 percent of 10th-graders at Redmond High said they tried illegal drugs.

As for high school seniors, the state percentage was 24.6 and the Redmond percentage was 22.7, Reith said.

“This is a wake-up call for some people,” Reith said.

Marchione, who has a college-age son and a daughter who attends Redmond High, said that he and his wife have been very proactive in educating their children about the dangers of illegal drugs.

“It was a problem in high school when I was kid, it doesn’t surprise me that drugs are still around my kids in high school,” Marchione said. “It was always a concern of mine from day one to work with my kids constantly so it’s not a problem in my family.”