Equipment seized by the Boardman police in drug busts is getting a second life at Boardman Glenwood Junior High School.
School resource officer Phil Merlo made the connection between equipment used to grow marijuana and Boardman’s hydroponics program when he cleaned out the Boardman Police Department’s evidence room this summer. The program, which is in its third year, enables students to grow plants indoors.
“I saw something a year or two ago on the news. Something was donated to a school from a police department, and they used it to further the students’ education. Knowing what we had in evidence waiting to be forfeited or destroyed, I hooked up with the science department. I knew they were into hydroponics and asked them what they may need,” Merlo said.
The program previously purchased some equipment through a grant, but the donation from the police department will significantly boost the young program.