NEW BERLIN – Some Unadilla Valley secondary school students were discovered to be in possession of marijuana last week. But thanks to fast action by the school's principal, the guilty parties and the drugs were quickly handled.

According to Unadilla Valley Superintendent Bob Mackey, an investigation was started last Tuesday, Jan. 20, after some students came forward to High School Principal Frank Johnson with information about other students’ possession of marijuana. Due to confidentiality reasons, the names and ages of the involved students cannot be revealed.

Surveillance cameras installed around the school helped assist the principal in bringing the investigation to a quick conclusion. “Thanks to being able to track kids on security cameras throughout the building to see who was where – and when – our principal was able to track down the bulk of the students by late Wednesday afternoon,” said Mackey.

According to Mackey, the main investigation around the drugs was finished by Tuesday afternoon, with a couple of loose ends left to be tied up on Wednesday. There were also bystanders involved in the investigation – students that knew something was going on, but did not have the confidence, or were simply afraid to tell an adult, he said.

“The entire investigation – including bystanders being spoken to about doing the right thing rather than just being bystanders – was concluded by Friday of last week,” said Mackey. “We talked to them about choices, about doing the right thing.”