INCONSISTENCY CITED IN WAYNE DRUG TEST RULE

It was the exception, not the rule, for Wayne school administrators
automatically to order urinalysis of students they suspected of using
drugs.

That norm, outlined by school nurses testifying in court on Monday, is
contrary to the "zero tolerance" policy depicted by district officials
who want to fire a high school vice principal for exercising
discretion in one tragic case. At an administrative law hearing of
charges against suspended Vice Principal Joseph Graceffo, a school
nurse testified Monday that teachers and administrators, although
suspecting drug use, often waited for the results of a cursory medical
examination before requesting that a student be given a urinalysis.

This appears to go against school officials' assertion that school
administrators must order drug tests immediately when a teacher
suspects a student of being under the influence of drugs.

Graceffo is accused of violating that policy on Jan. 21 by not heeding
a teacher's request and ordering a drug test for Nicholas Lucatorto,
who died two weeks later from a heroin overdose at an overnight house
party.

Nurses involved in the incident said Monday that they had examined
Lucatorto after Graceffo brought him in, and found no obvious signs of
drug use.

Testifying on behalf of the district, Marilyn DiStefano, the Wayne
Hills nurse who examined Lucatorto, said teachers often would wait
until a nurse indicated there were physical signs of drug use before
requesting that administrators order a drug screening.

"Most teachers were reluctant. They want us to make the decision" to
test, DiStefano said. "There were very few times when a teacher said,
'I want a student tested.' They just don't want to make that
commitment."

But under the policy, teachers generally are responsible for
requesting a drug test from a nurse and a vice principal if they
suspect a student of being under the influence of drugs. A vice
principal then is required to authorize a urinalysis.

DiStefano testified that in another instance, on Jan. 15, a student
believed to have been smoking marijuana was referred to her for
examination by Wayne Hills Principal Eugene Sudol.

She told Sudol that upon examination, she did not smell marijuana on
the student. Sudol, who testifed this month that he would go as far as
testing a student whom he found sleeping in class, dissuaded Vice
Principal Robert Santangelo from authorizing the urinalysis, according
to DiStefano.

She said that surprised her. "I expected that we would test," she told
the administrative law court.

Following Lucatorto's death on Feb. 6, DiStefano said, memos were
circulated to the staff detailing that it was imperative to test.

"The difference then was that almost every student referred was
tested," she said.

Last week, Susan Ammerman, a physical education teacher, testified
that on Jan. 21, she had smelled marijuana on Lucatorto and noticed
his pupils were dilated. DiStefano and another nurse who examined him
testifed Monday that his eyes were normal and he smelled only of
cigarette smoke.

Following district policy, DiStefano gave Lucatorto a 15-minute
physical examination to see if he needed to be taken to a hospital.

Lucatorto's pulse was normal and his pupils reacted to light and were
equal in size. DiStefano said that because the room where Ammerman
evaluated Lucatorto was dark, his eyes would probably have been
dilated naturally.

DiStefano said she was hindered by a sinus infection that day, so she
called in substitute nurse Deborah Corto specifically to smell the
teen.

Corto then took the stand and testifed that she smelled only cigarette
smoke. "Marijuana smells sweeter than tobacco," she said.

The two nurses reported their assessment to Graceffo, making no
recommendation. On Monday, they said the only way to be certain about
Lucatorto's condition that day would have been to have him undergo a
drug test. But they said Graceffo told them the teen would not be tested.

While DiStefano's examination was going on, Graceffo phoned
Lucatorto's mother to tell her about the incident. Lucatorto's mother
informed Graceffo that her son had been sick with the flu and was on
prescription medication, according to Graceffo's attorney, Robert Schwartz.

The hearing before Judge Mumtaz Bari-Brown will continue Nov.
9.