BUSHLAND, TEXAS -- Bushland Independent School District says it is looking toward the future of its schools and its community.
Thursday, on the way to that goal, it held a meeting to set up a new task force. The meeting was mainly organizational, to get all the volunteers together.
Students sat in the front row as this new task force looked at current policies in five different areas, including substance abuse.
"I think we need to change it," said Emily Chapman, an eighth grader at Bushland Middle School. Hannah Rhodes, another eighth grader continued, "Yea, something needs to be done."
The issues for the subcommittees included substance abuse awareness, sex education, character education, curriculum, the athletic facility, and communication, which seemed to be key with parents.
"It's gonna break that barrier to get to that next level and uh, start talking about it with not the parents but also the students, so you know we're not isolated or immune from problems," said Valerie Kiper, a parent to a high school student at Bushland High School.
All groups focused on proactive suggestions to see what can be implemented for the school district. This stems from the overdose of a high school students; that opened the districts eyes, and they wanted to address it head on.
"We need to do something more proactive, while we're at it, let's not address a more global approach, and look at some other areas, that we know we're deficient in, and look at those police and how we can improve those polices and become even better," said Don Wood, the Bushland ISD Superintendent.
"We can't just tell people they should stop it, we should set an example to stop," said Chapman.
The next step is for the subcommittees to meet separately and get to the meat of the issues, addressing what's going on in Bushland schools.
