'WE HAVE FAILED' DESCRIBES GRIEF AT GIRL'S DRUG DEATH

In Birmingham, Loss Of Student Is A Difficult Lesson

Letters sent recently to nearly 4,500 families of students in
Birmingham Public Schools carried a stark message: "We have failed."

Weeks after the death of Lauren Jolly, a 17-year-old junior at
Birmingham Groves High School, in an apparent drug overdose,
community activists and district administrators have implored parents
to help prevent a similar tragedy.

"We have failed," reads one page of the package sent to all families
with students in the district's middle schools and high schools. "We
have let a child that has grown up in our midst go to her grave
believing drugs were worth living and ultimately worth dying for."

Lauren, who turned 17 on April 22, was found dead about 11:15 p.m.
May 24 in a car parked on Riopelle near Eight Mile, on Detroit's east
side. Police called her death an overdose, and said Lauren's parents
reported that she had been arrested for heroin possession in the
past. As of Friday, the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office was
awaiting toxicology reports before an official ruling. The news of
her death shook the Birmingham school district as a hard reality in a
community that sometimes fancies itself less vulnerable to society's
ugliest problems. The news meant more pain in particular at Groves,
where another student had collapsed and died from cardiac arrest just
days before Lauren's death.

"We have been seeing, over the past few years, a decline ... in terms
of substance abuse at most levels," schools superintendent John
Hoeffler said last week. "But the death of a student, of course, is
very tragic and alarming."

Hoeffler, other school officials, police and community leaders met
June 2 to discuss the lessons of Lauren's death. The group decided to
send the mass mailing as summer approaches and students have more
free time and less structure. Hoeffler said the same group will meet
again later this month to brainstorm hands-on educational programs
for when school reconvenes in the fall.

The package sent to parents, which includes a letter from Hoeffler
and the "We have failed" note from the Birmingham Bloomfield
Community Coalition, offers practical advice and warning signs for
parents to watch for in their children. It includes a strong
suggestion that adults get rid of leftover prescription pain
medication, which can be precursors of heroin use.

"It's just a huge feeling of loss, tragedy and frustration," Hoeffler
said of Lauren's death. "You keep looking at it; is there one piece
that maybe could have prevented it? It's hard to tell. ... We thought
perhaps a letter home to parents could really help them get a picture
of what's happening."

Linda Millar, who has three children in the district's schools, said
she appreciated the advice.

"I like the tone of 'All of us live in this world and we need to let
each other know what's going on,' " Millar said. "When that note
came, I sat down with my kids."

Laura Couger, executive director of Birmingham Bloomfield Families in
Action, a parent-education group, said her organization will help
plan future educational programs for parents.

"There's a huge discrepancy between what our kids say they're doing
and what our parents think they're doing ... so parent education is
crucial," Couger said.

Lisa Machesky, who wrote the "We have failed" letter, said her
message is that the community let down Lauren and her family, even if
a recent study by Western Michigan University showed that just 3% of
Birmingham-Bloomfield students in eighth, 10th and 12th grades have
tried heroin.

"We really have failed," Machesky said. "One of our children has died
in our community and she thought drugs were the way to go. ... How do
we let a child grow up in our midst and think that ... where did we go wrong?

"We have to accept some responsibility. It's not just a problem for
an individual or a whole family. It's a problem for a whole community."