HEARING EXPLORES LAPSES IN DRUG RULES

Three years ago, a student at Wayne Valley High School was suspected by a
staff member of being on drugs. It was late in the school day, and instead
of being ordered to take a urinalysis immediately as required by district
policy, the student was allowed to go home.

His parents were not notified until the following day, when the unnamed
student was removed from school and given a drug test.

No one on the school's staff was reprimanded.

The memorandum detailing that incident, in November 1996, was submitted
into evidence Thursday in the tenure hearing of Joseph Graceffo, the
suspended Wayne Hills High School vice principal accused of violating
district policy by not ordering a test in January for a student, suspected
of being on drugs, who died two weeks later of a heroin overdose.

Robert Schwartz, the lawyer trying to save Graceffo's job, continued to
poke holes in what district officials call a "zero tolerance" policy when
it comes to deciding whether to test a student or not.

"We don't know if that student got into his car and drove home," while he
was suspected of being high, Schwartz said, referring to the 1996 incident
presented during the hearing before Administrative Law Judge Mumtaz
Bari-Brown in Newark.

Graceffo was not responsible for administering drug tests for that student.

"Doesn't it give you pause that nothing was done that day?" he asked Gary
Hall, the district's personnel director, who helps revise the drug policy
each year. Hall had taken the stand to answer questions about his prior
testimony on behalf of the district.

Under local and state policy, a school administrator must require testing
of any student if a teacher suspects that student of taking drugs or
notices behavioral changes.

It is that policy that district officials are citing in saying Graceffo
should be fired for not compelling Nicholas Lucatorto to undergo testing in
January after being informed by a teacher that she smelled marijuana on the
11th grader. Two weeks later, on Feb. 6, Lucatorto overdosed on heroin and
died at a house party.

Schwartz is attempting to show whether Graceffo acted differently from
other school administrators in exercising discretion.

The hearing resumes today at 9 a.m.

Also on Thursday afternoon, Superior Court Judge W. Hunt Dumont in Paterson
ordered the district to give Schwartz statistical information regarding
drug tests at both Wayne public high schools. The judge, however, did not
order the district to release nurses' logs with detailed information on
individual cases as Schwartz had sought in a lawsuit. The district did not
want the logs released, citing confidentiality of students.

Earlier in the day, Hall testified that following Lucatorto's death, staff
members had informed him that Graceffo had not ordered drug tests for
students suspected of being high on four occasions dating to 1991 while he
was a vice principal at Wayne Valley.

But Hall later testified that previous evaluations of Graceffo did not say
anything about miscues in handling drug testing.

According to earlier testimony, Susan Ammerman, a physical education
teacher, informed a school nurse and Graceffo that she had smelled
marijuana smoke on Lucatorto on Jan. 21. But Schwartz has argued that
afterward, Graceffo and the nurse inspected Lucatorto and did not smell
marijuana. Instead of testing him, Graceffo alerted Lucatorto's mother
about the incident and said the boy would be tested if another report came
in indicating marijuana use.

The next morning, Robert Flower, head of the physical education department,
also reported to Graceffo that he smelled marijuana on Lucatorto that day.
But Schwartz has argued that Graceffo thought Flower was referring to the
incident with Ammerman and assured Flower the matter had already been
"taken care of."

Thursday, Schwartz argued that Flower violated the board's drug-testing
policy by not notifying the school nurse in addition to Graceffo once he
suspected Lucatorto of drug use. Hall reluctantly agreed and said Flower
was not reprimanded for the infraction.

Schwartz asked Hall whether Graceffo's role as president of the union
representing administrators and his fierce attitude at bargaining sessions
had anything to do with his suspension. Hall said it did not.