NORTON - A drug and alcohol use survey will go out to students in grades 6 through 12 this spring, after all.

The school committee approved the survey this week by a 4-0 vote, two weeks after some members expressed reservations about its propriety.

Superintendent Patricia Ansay said Foxboro school officials have "never had a problem" with the Communities That Care Youth Survey over the three years its students have participated. She added that Foxboro Assistant Superintendent Debra Spinelli reported using it without incident while working in Stoughton not long ago.

Mansfield and Norton are participating in the survey for the first time.

Only Norton students whose parents sign a permission slip will get the survey, which will include questions about issues such as bullying, Ansay said. A letter home to parents will include both the permission slip and a link to a Web site where parents may see the survey, which students will complete anonymously, she said.

The results will help shape Norton's health and wellness curriculum, as well as related programs for a task force consisting of Foxboro, Mansfield and Norton officials, Ansay said.

The results should be available by June, she said.

School board Chairman Thomas Golota said he noted two weeks ago his daughter "wouldn't even know what these drugs were."

However, he said this week, "I probably would rather her know it as a 'thing that's not a good thing' than be exposed to it somewhere down the road."

Norton High School Principal Raymond Dewar said it's important for "parents to know what's out there."

"Hopefully, there's some 'Ah ha!' reactions from them" generated by the survey, "so they can say, 'This is what I need to watch for,'" Dewar said.