A FIELD TRIP, A TEENAGER'S DEATH AND QUESTIONS OF RESPONSIBILITY

MINEOLA, N.Y. -- There is no question that Rob Pace did something reckless.
A college-bound honor society student with an arrest for marijuana
possession in his recent past, Mr. Pace, 18, went on a class trip to Great
Adventure amusement park in April carrying drugs in his backpack. Arrested
at the gate, he was processed and released by the police in Jackson
Township, N.J., but Riverhead High School officials refused to bring him
home to Long Island.

A school official told the police: "He's 18. He can do what he wants."

According to the police transcript of the conversation, Joseph E. Ogeka,
then the associate high school principal, told an officer that he did not
want Mr. Pace "going back on the bus with our kids." Speaking from
Riverhead, Mr. Ogeka told the officer that if the boy's parents could not
be located, "he's gonna have to take a train or he's gonna have to do
something."

By the time school officials had reached Mr. Pace's parents, Rob Pace had
set off on his own, apparently contemplating the consequences of his arrest
for possession of two and a half marijuana cigars, four Ecstasy pills and
cocaine. A former varsity athlete, Mr. Pace made it to Bethpage on the Long
Island Rail Road before deciding he could go no further. "Please tell
anyone who ever knew me that 'I'm sorry for letting them down!' " read a
note he left on his seat. Then he jumped between train cars to his death.

Four months later, the question remains whether school officials also acted
recklessly that day.

At 18, Mr. Pace was legally an adult and could be released on his own
without the police contacting his parents. But he was a student in a public
school that takes responsibility for children in their parents' absence.
The school's policy states that students caught with drugs must be removed
from school activities -- and that parents or guardians are to do the removing.

But on April 14, Mr. Pace was left alone, and it was apparently more than
he could handle. "I know through thick or thin you guys will always stand
next to me," he wrote to his parents and older sister in the note. "I'm the
one who can't stand next to myself."

The lines taunt his mother. "If Rob were not alone, he would not have had
to stand next to himself in order to get himself home," his mother, Karen
Pace, told the Riverhead school board after her son's death.

Daniel Rodgers, a lawyer who represented Mr. Pace in his earlier arrest,
called the school's posture "zero tolerance run amok." Mr. Rodgers
characterized the school's attitude as: "He broke the law. He's on his own."

SCHOOL officials have gone into a defensive crouch. First they said the
police urged school personnel not to come to the police station. Then the
police transcripts emerged, telling a different story. There have been
tense moments at school board meetings as the Pace family has sought
information. But officials, while expressing condolences, refuse to answer
questions on the advice of lawyers, because of an impending lawsuit. Now,
the tragedy in the middle class community on Long Island's East End will be
a matter for civil litigation rather than basic civility. The Paces expect
little money from a lawsuit. "I just want the answers to the questions that
have gone unanswered for all these months," Mrs. Pace said on Thursday.

The Paces are more accustomed to boosting Riverhead than battling it.
Sweethearts at Riverhead High, Robert Pace is a carpenter turned real
estate salesman, and Mrs. Pace transcribes medical records. They
volunteered in community groups, sent their daughter to college and were
preparing to send their son. "This is an average family," she said.

They do not condone their son's drug use, but know he was not wayward. "He
went to school every day," Mrs. Pace said. "We ate dinner together every
day. He worked every day. He did his tae kwon do."

Judy Doll knew Rob Pace as a member of Riverhead's youth court, where
teenagers hear cases of young misdemeanor offenders. Ms. Doll, who runs the
court, said she was surprised by his arrest last year with three other
youths at a beach party. But she thought it showed character when the
friendly teenager stepped down from the court, saying "I feel like a
hypocrite" judging others.

Judging others is a perilous business, as school officials must realize.
"We were all kids," Ms. Doll said. "Everyone tries things. That doesn't
mean that's who you are."