West Deptford School Board Members Call Comments “Irresponsible,” Say It’s Time to Move On

Calling West Deptford committeeman Sam Cianfarini’s repetition of a claim the high school is referred to as “Heroin High” as “probably the worst thing you can call a school district,” West Deptford school board President Christopher Strano sought to put an end Monday night to what he said was a snowball effect resulting from the furor over the comments.

That’s meant multiple meetings and conversations with township and school officials, including one just hours before the board meeting that included the mayor and police chief in the discussion.

“I don’t think Sam said this maliciously,” Strano said. “I don’t think he wanted to start a war with the district or the board.”

Still, the comments were a poor choice, Strano said, though he surmised Cianfarini was trying to use them to light a fire under people at the staff meeting where the comments were made.

“You don’t motivate by negativity or shock value,” Strano said.

Strano said he’d called on Cianfarini to apologize, and extended an invitation for the committeeman to address the school board—an invitation that was declined.

Cianfarini, who said he didn’t find out about the request to appear before the school board meeting until about 5:30 p.m. Monday, and ended up at the RiverWinds advisory board meeting instead, said there was no point in continuing to belabor the issue.

“I don’t want to inflame this situation any more,” he said.

For their part, school board members said they’re looking to move on from the controversy, as well, but criticized Cianfarini for repeating the reference without checking the facts first.

“It angers me that someone in his position such a short period of time didn’t take the time to learn about what the school district does to prevent something like this,” said Jim Mehaffey, who, in addition to a dozen years on the school board, was a West Deptford police officer for 27 years, including a stint as police chief. “To say that we don’t address it is inexcusable.”

To that end, the district has a random drug testing program in place, which superintendent Kevin Kitchenman said has seen just 18 positives in 808 tests over the four-year life of the program.

All students who participate in sports, extracurricular activities or park at the school are subject to the random testing program, and parents can opt their children into the random pool.

“Our drug-testing program is one of the most aggressive in the area,” Kitchenman said.

Beyond that, the district’s also has a policy of testing students who are reportedly drunk or high at school, Kitchenman said. When administrators are notified of such a situation, the student has to be tested within two hours.

The district has also offered drug seminars for parents, which have been lightly attended, among their other efforts.

“We’re going to do everything in our power to ensure it isn’t a problem,” Strano said.