WOBURN - In light of two alcohol-related deaths within the school system in a little over a year, Woburn Memorial High School Principal Bob Norton urged the School Committee Wednesday night to completely rehash the district's health curriculum.

According to the principal — who admitted that last January's passing of senior Cassandra Donovan (who was a passenger in a car being driven by a drunk driving suspect) and the July 2004 death of recent high school graduate Jamie Lawton caught him off-guard — there is not a great preponderance of students heavily abusing drugs or alcohol.

And while Norton emphasized that every community struggles with the issue of teenage substance abuse, the principal did feel that more needed to be done to prevent future tragedies — specifically, placing a greater K-12 emphasis on drug and alcohol education.

"I've been an administrator for 30 years and I thought I was going to make it through my career without losing a student to an alcohol-related accident. And not only did we lose one, but we lost two in one year. So this is something I take very seriously," the principal said.

"We have a very small number of students involved with heavy marijuana use, heavy Oxycontin use, or heavy heroin use. That doesn't mean it's an insignificant number. But the biggest problem we deal with by far is alcohol abuse. It's an adult model activity. It's heavily advertised. And it's readily acceptable," Norton added.

Requesting that the high school principal address the issue of drug and alcohol abuse after reading several scholarship essays written by graduating seniors last spring, School Committee member Patricia Chisholm stressed that the meeting was not called to place blame on Norton or any other party.

Instead Chisholm wanted to ensure that something was accomplished so that the students who, "wrote this down and poured their hearts out," saw that their words were being heeded.

Completely agreeing with Norton's recommendation, School Committee member Joseph Crowley insisted that some type of plan had to be established where real work was being accomplished.

"You talked about the need to revamp the program. How are you going to go about that?" Crowley asked. "It is a serious problem. And I don't want to just sit here and talk about it."

Responding to Crowley, both Norton and Superintendent Dr. Carl Batchelder argued that the exercise couldn't be restricted by deadlines, although both conceded that the curriculum update needed to be completed as soon as possible.

According to Norton, the biggest issue with rewriting the health curriculum was ensuring that it was effective. And to do that, the principal argued, staff members would have to visit other school districts and learn what works and what doesn't.

"Relatively speaking, through grades K-12, we dedicate relatively scant resources to health education. Sometimes, this whole issue gets bogged down by sexual education issues, political issues. This is too important to let that happen," the principal remarked.

"My approach take a little longer than just sitting down and rewriting the curriculum," explained Norton, who believes teaching students how to formulate a strong sense of identity and a high self-esteem is pivotal. "We don't really know what the right approach is. We need to go out and see who does this well and find out what fits."

With virtually every person agreeing Wednesday night that student substance abuse is a community wide problem, not just an issue isolated to the school system, School Committee member Michael Mulrenan felt that parents need to get more involved.

After Norton, Chisholm, and School Committee Chairman Denis Russell all recalled personal experiences with their own children and how difficult it was to leave on weekend vacations out-of-fear that a house party would be held in their absence, Mulrenan felt that parents needed to be more cognizant of that reality.

"We need to get parents more involved. You're right. The parents are going to go on a ski trip on a Friday and something's going to happen. Then Bob is going to walk into school on Monday and take all the heat," Mulrenan said.

Forming the backbone of his insistence that the curriculum alterations presented the best way to tackle substance abuse problems, Norton claimed that new disciplinary policies were not necessary.

Specifically, the principal claimed that the School Committee had instituted some of the stiffest penalties he's ever seen for students caught or suspected of abusing drugs or alcohol at school events.

The policies cited by Norton included:

* An automatic five-day suspension for students caught under the influence of drugs or alcohol during school days or school events

* A mandatory requirement that all violators attend an eight-session drug and alcohol abuse seminar before returning to school after serving that suspension

* A loss of privileges to attend all social and athletic events sponsored by the school for an entire school year should a student be under the influence at such a gathering (students may appeal decision after 90 days)

* A 365-day enforcement policy, meaning students caught abusing substances over the summer months or during vacations face the same penalties they would if school was in session.