SCHOOLS TEST FOR DRUG USE

Clinton starts program after former student dies.

Donny Skidmore arrived at the hospital blue, with no shoes on. His
friends brought him there - the same friends he partied with the
night before.

Donny's father, Donald Skidmore, got the call at 10 a.m. Aug. 31. His
18-year-old son, a Clinton High School dropout, was dead from an
apparent drug overdose. Just two months earlier, Donny told his
father he would straighten out. He took a job digging graves - and in
the end, dug his own.

It's not news one would expect out of the Clinton area, a rural
community straddling Washtenaw and Lenawee counties. And it's not the
kind of issue one would expect Clinton Community Schools, one of the
smallest districts in the region, to face head on.

Yet in the shadow of Donny's death, the school board approved a rare
but increasingly popular drug-testing policy that Michigan drug czar
Craig Yaldoo said puts the district at the cutting edge of drug
prevention.

Under the new policy, middle school and high school teachers who
suspect a student is using can file a report with the principal, who
decides whether to administer a $20 oral drug test. In the presence
of a third party, the principal conducts the test at school,
typically after calling a parent, and has results back within 15
minutes. An outside laboratory retests positive results before
disciplinary action is taken. A student is suspended three days for a
first offense. A student's refusal to take the test is considered an
admission of guilt.

Only a handful of schools across the state - none in this region -
have enacted similar policies. Instead, schools rely on students'
confessions in a meeting with the principal or more subjective means,
such as whether a student smells like marijuana, as the basis for
suspension. Several schools, including Ypsilanti and Milan, provide
for opportunities to participate in voluntary substance testing off
site.

Clinton's policy was in the works for three years, but losing a
former student brought a sense of urgency to the district's mission,
High School Principal James DuVall said. Donny's death affirmed the
need to be proactive, he said.

"It's time to stop this," he said.

DuVall said he considers drug use a "small problem" in the district
with fewer than two incidents per year on average in the past four
years. Still, the district sought additional ways to protect nonusers
from users.

DuVall said he believes the test will serve as a deterrent,
dissuading students from bringing drugs to school or using during the
week.

School staff must rely on physical clues - bloodshot or glazed eyes,
diluted pupils, slurred speech, impaired motor skills or unusual
behavior - to report a student. The school has owned a Breathalyzer
for years, but it didn't have a foolproof way to test for drugs,
DuVall said.

"This takes the question out of it," he said.

But Michael J. Steinberg, legal director for the Michigan chapter of
the American Civil Liberties Union, said he questions the accuracy of
a test using saliva and not urine. He said such tests are flawed and
could result in a student being falsely accused.

Matt Andrie, director of marketing for the company making Clinton's
drug test, said Avitar Inc.'s ORALscreen is highly accurate and
permits fewer chances for tampering than a urine test.

Steinberg also said he was concerned the system could be abused, but
DuVall said the school would not allow random testing. He said he's
worked with school attorneys extensively and believes the district
has a strong, legal grounding. Yaldoo, director of Michigan's office
of drug control policy, also said the testing plan is legally sound
since the school is testing only suspicious students.

Since Oct. 18, DuVall has received two reports from teachers
suspecting students of drug use. One admitted using marijuana and no
test was administered. A second student denied the accusation and
took the test.

"He was a little nervous so there was no saliva at first," DuVall said.

After giving the student a glass of water, DuVall placed the
thermometer-like foam collector in the student's mouth. About two
minutes later, he pushed a clear hood against the foam to squeeze the
saliva onto the sample well. After 15 minutes, red lines appeared for
marijuana, cocaine, opiates and methamphetamine, meaning the student
was clean.

It was a relief for everyone, DuVall said. The school doesn't want to
see anyone else end up like Donny.

Last week, Donald Skidmore tried to drive that message home, telling
several teens his son's story and urging them to take a different
path.

"Donny was a good kid," Donald said, recalling his son's love of
baseball, golf, fishing, church. "But he's gone because of drugs. ...
It could happen just as easily to you."

Donny started skipping school more than a year ago, Donald said. By
Thanksgiving, he dropped out, and without a diploma, struggled to
find good-paying work.

In June, he hit rock bottom, Donald said. With no job or money, Donny
called his father and promised to straighten out and earn a GED.

On the last night of his life, Donny helped his sister, Heather, 14,
with her homework and stood out on the deck with his dad, assuring
him that everything was OK, that he'd be fine. He was wrong. A
toxicology analysis showed traces of four drugs in Donny's system:
Valium, an opiate, an anti-depressant and an anti-seizure medicine,
none prescribed for medical reasons.

"It's not a good way to go," Donald Skidmore told the teens. "I want
you to just say no. Be straight. We're not here to get you in
trouble. We just don't want to see anyone else die."