THE REST OF THE STORY

There are few things less satisfying than half of anything. And when
a newspaper delivers half a story, then it can be much worse than that.

We delivered one half of a story on Thursday, although it was neither
our fault nor our purpose. We were sufficiently concerned about the
lack of balance in a story about Magnolia Elementary School that we
delayed its publication so we could try again to get officials from
the school system to give their version of events.

By the time we published the article, a school spokesman had
commented but his information was sketchy and secondhand. After the
central office read the story, school officials were in a talkative
mood and invited our reporter for a chat on Friday with those
intimate with the details of the situation.

The Thursday story left the reader with this impression: A
13-year-old student was allegedly slipped an Ecstasy pill at the
school, sheriff's deputies and dogs went to the school to sniff for
drugs, and school officials kicked them off the campus.

Each of the three elements of that single sentence is true, but their
relationship with each other needs a clarification. A story in
Saturday's newspaper did brighten the light, and today's Our View is
intended to add more wattage.

The deputies and dogs were at the school on Feb. 25 not because of
the alleged Ecstasy incident on Feb. 13, but because of an ongoing
investigation that dates back about six weeks to the discovery of
marijuana at the school. There is significant doubt that the student
consumed Ecstasy, although there is no question that something
sickened that child enough that he spent a night in the hospital. The
reason deputies were disinvited was because the central office had
not -- as is required by unwritten protocol -- been told of their
presence on campus. It appears that the decision was made that dogs
scampering throughout the school was akin to treating a headache with morphine.

We don't want to give the school system a get-out-of-jail-free card.
There was an obvious lack of communication that has raised suspicions
and embarrassed the system. Also, school officials' unwillingness to
return a reporter's repeated phone calls is the exception, not the
rule, with the current administration.

Lost in the haze is this: Magnolia is an elementary school and, while
school officials reject the notion that is it "drug infested," a
juvenile detective with the Sheriff's Office says the school's
problems are exceptional. Sheriff Kenneth Sealey has invited himself
to speak with school officials to discuss when his deputies and dogs
can return. That should be expedited so that this cloud that hovers
above the school dissipates.

The school's 800 students deserve a safe environment that is
conducive to learning -- and their parents need the peace of mind
that can only come with knowing that has been provided.