EXPELLED STUDENT CHALLENGES `ZERO TOLERANCE' DRUG POLICY

Brunswick Teen Sues, Claims Due Process Denied

MEDINA: A 17-year-old Brunswick student has gone to court to challenge his
expulsion for a single seed and some ``flakes'' of marijuana found in his car.

In a lawsuit filed in Medina County Common Pleas Court, Armando Adrovet
argued that the Brunswick school board's ``zero tolerance'' drug policy
violated a basic right of due process.

``The school never contended that Armando knew of this minuscule amount''
of marijuana, which likely were the ``droppings'' of another student who
was a passenger in the car the day the marijuana was found, according to
the complaint.

The passenger was one of more than a dozen students arrested on drug
charges at the high school on May 13. Police searched Adrovet's car because
he had given the other student a ride to school.

The marijuana seed and flakes were found on the floor of the back seat.

Although Adrovet, the son of Milton and Natalie Adrovet, voluntarily agreed
to the search and was never charged with a crime, the school board voted on
June 21 to bar him from school until Dec. 14 under the district's ``zero
tolerance'' anti-drug policy.

Adrovet's attorney, George W. Macdonald, argued that the policy was unfair
and illegal because it doesn't require evidence that a student knowingly
brought drugs to school.

``Due process has always required that a person not have his property or
liberty taken from him unless he has knowingly done something wrong,''
Macdonald wrote in the lawsuit complaint. ``Our founding fathers would spin
in their graves if they could hear a public official mindlessly parrot a
slogan (``zero tolerance'') as reason for dispensing with the due process
which has been part of our Bill of Rights since 1790.''

But school board president Thomas Neumann said last night that the board
has been ``very consistent'' in enforcing the district's drug policy. He
said cracking down on drugs has been a top priority for both Brunswick
school officials and city residents.

``You can start talking about a gray level, where you ask, `How much drugs
or alcohol should we tolerate?' '' Neumann said. ``A zero tolerance means
we will not tolerate any.''

Neumann said school officials were not notified about the lawsuit until
Tuesday, and have not yet had the opportunity to discuss the suit with the
district's attorney.

The lawsuit seeks a court order overturning the expulsion and requiring
that Adrovet be readmitted to the school this fall so he may complete his
senior year. Adrovet's mother said her son did not complete his junior year
because he was kept from school since the search and has suffered
emotionally due to the expulsion.

``By being falsely labeled a drug user . . . he has withdrawn and developed
negative attitudes,'' Natalie Adrovet wrote in an affidavit filed with the
lawsuit.

``Keeping him out of school this fall will further punish him for something
he did not do, and will further put him behind in the schoolwork necessary
to complete his education on time, and prevent him from going to college.''

The case was assigned to Common Pleas Judge James L. Kimbler.