MOTHER UPSET ABOUT SCHOOL'S REACTION TO SON'S OVERDOSE

Bolton High School special education student Jason Diamond, 18, was not
coherent in class Monday because of a drug overdose.

His mother, Donna Windham, wants to know why the school didn't call an
ambulance immediately.

Diamond's teacher called the school office three times to get an ambulance
after she was unable to wake him up, Windham said. The office first tried
to call Windham, but she wasn't home. The office then called Diamond's
grandmother and asked if she would come pick him up.

"She told them no and to call 9-1-1 and send him to Cabrini," Windham said.
"He went a long time before he got any attention."

Diamond, who is mildly mentally retarded, was still in intensive care on
Wednesday with traces of an unknown drug, possibly a relative of Valium, in
his system. Windham said he has been known to use drugs before.

"We don't know yet if there is additional brain damage because of the delay
in calling the ambulance," Windham said.

Windham also is upset that her son might be getting drugs at the Aiken
Optional School campus, where he attends the Special Education Job Training
Center in the morning before a school bus takes him to Bolton in the afternoon.

The special education program shares the building with Aiken Optional School.

Bolton Principal Penny Toney would not comment on the incident except to
declare that her staff followed the proper procedures. The Rapides Parish
Safe Schools plan specifies six steps in a drug-related medical emergency:
try to determine what drug was taken, administer first aid, call parents,
prepare personal information if an ambulance is needed, notify local law
enforcement and call central office.

Tommy Roque, assistant superintendent for administration, said Wednesday he
had not heard about the incident.

"We always like to notify parents when something like that happens," he
said. However, Roque said he knows of no laws or rules that prevent school
officials from putting a student on an ambulance without parental consent
or knowledge.

Bolton staff notified Alexandria police about the incident, and the
narcotics division is investigating, a police spokesman said.

Windham tried to talk to the School Board at Tuesday's meeting about the
incident, but the board's legal adviser, District Attorney James Downs,
told her she could not address the board in executive session without
proper notice to the school employees about whom she would be complaining.

Diamond has previously told Windham that he gets drugs at Aiken in the
bathrooms, often through gambling, she said. She found dice in his pockets
Monday night.

Bill Coorpender, coordinator of the Job Training Center, said, "There was
nothing wrong with Jason when he left here this morning."

Coorpender added other students told him Diamond took pills on the bus on
the way to Bolton around lunchtime. Some special education buses have aides
on board. Diamond's bus did not have an aide.

Coorpender said it is not correct to assume Diamond got the drugs on the
Aiken campus.

"The students are supervised right when they get off the bus," he said.
"The only place they really mix with Aiken Optional kids is in the
bathroom. I can't believe that they would have any time to gamble in the
bathroom."

Windham said Superintendent Patsy Jenkins told her there would be an
investigation and that the matter "is too important to drop."

However, Windham is skeptical. "I think they are going to sweep this under
the rug," she said.