SCHOOLS RETHINKING 'ZERO TOLERANCE' DRUG AND ALCOHOL POLICIES

Education: Strict rules aimed at curbing abuse have worked,backers say.But
there are critics.

Police confiscate a marijuana pipe from a Corana del Mar High senior
during a routine traffic stop in 1998 and report it to the boy's school.

The student is promptly suspended and transferred to another school
under the district's "zero tolerance" drug policy.

So he sues, eventually seeking to have the district's policy
abolished.

Last year, two school districts' zero tolerance policies on drugs and
alcohol were challenged, and a third district is rewriting its
hard-line policy.

"Districts are going to be forced to rethink their position or spend a
huge part of their education budgets on legal fees," said attorney
David Shores, who won a court decision overruling Newport-Mesa's zero
tolerance policy.

Newport-Mesa, Tustin and Laguna Beach unified school districts are
doing just that:

Newport-Mesa: Its February 1998 transfer of Corona del Mar High senior
Ryan Hunstman was overruled by Superior Court Judge Robert E. Thomas, who
said the action constituted cruel and unusual punishment. Huntsman's
lawsuit seeking to have the zero tolerance policy abolished is pending. The
district reworked portions of the policy, but bigger changes might be in
store: In April, the school board will re-evaluate the entire policy.

Tustin: Board members will decide Monday if their zero tolerance policy
needs to be refined. This follows an October case in which five Foothill
High seniors were transferred or expelled after allegedly being caught
smoking marijuana during lunch hour. Three of the students sued the
district and lost, but the case sparked protests from hundreds of parents.

Laguna Beach: Board members are rewriting a policy they say is unclear and
results in too many suspensions. "The result of being unclear is that each
of the coaches in the athletic department read it a little differently, and
the dance department reads it a little differently, and so on. So we had
four or five different interpretations," said Steve Rabago, school board
president.

Supporters say it sends a clear message to children.

"I think the way it's designed and the way it's posted it's like a
reminder across the line that if you use drugs or alcohol, you're out
of here. Its a good tool," said Wendy Leece, a Newport-Mesa school
board member.

"Zero tolerance" became a catch phrase in the 1980s, when school
officials grappled with what they deemed an increase in drug and
alcohol use among students.

"It kind of snuck up on us in the 1970s and '80s," said Tom Jacobson,
assistant superintendent of Newport-Mesa. "Maybe it started in the
1960s with freedoms being stretched. Then we started to see car
accidents, injuries, and death."

Jacobson said three students were killed in car accidents involving
drugs or alcohol while he was principal of Newport Harbor High in the
late 1980s. At that time, students caught using or selling drugs or
alcohol were suspended for five days and then given counseling.

"We decided we had to come up with something that had a clear,
deterring effect," Jacobson said.

Many zero tolerance policies have those attributes: A student caught
possessing or being under the influence of drugs or alcohol is subject
to suspension and transfer on the first offense, and expulsion on the
second offense. If a student is caught selling drugs, expulsion is
called for on the first offense.

The rules apply when a student is on campus, at a school function, on
lunch hour or driving to or from a school-related activity.

Opinions vary on whether zero tolerance deters students from using
drugs or alcohol.

"It's a lazy policy because you don't work with the individual or
consider each case on an individual basis," said Tom Meiss, a teacher
at Foothill High in Tustin. "Moving the student's problems from one
school to another is kind of stupid."

Jacobson disagrees.

"If you talk to high school principals, prior to implementation of
this policy, we would typically send half a dozen kids home from
school events flat on their back," Jacobson said. "Once we implemented
zero tolerance, our activities cleaned up immensely."

Because enforcement and reporting procedures were different in the
late 1980s, comparing data with earlier years is inconclusive.

In simple terms, it's hard to prove that zero tolerance works. That
leaves the policy open to attack, and leaves Newport-Mesa, Tustin and
Laguna Beach scrambling to find the best solution for keeping kids of
drugs.

One district went straight to the hors's mouth.

Earlier this year, Laguna Beach held a collaborative meeting between
school board members and about 60 students at Laguna High School.

On campus.

Dress: casual.

"It was very reflective of our community," Rabago said. "We had kids
who thought substance abuse was the wrong thing and should be dealt
with, and there were kids who felt that it was a personal choice on
their own time."

BY THE NUMBERS

Student transfers and expulsions in 1997-98 under "zero tolerance"
drug and alcohol policies in Newport-Mesa, Tustin and Laguna Beach
unified school districts:

Newport-Mesa: 60 transferred, 30 expelled.

Tustin: 66 transferred, none expelled.

Laguna Beach: The district does not transfer students because there is
only one high school. Two expelled.