DISTRICT TO EVALUATE DRUG BUSTS IN SCHOOLS

Critics Say Undercover Officers Catch Small-Time Offenders And Special-Ed
Students. Proponents Say It's The Best Way to Fight Dealers.

The Los Angeles Unified School District has decided to launch a review of
the police program of sending undercover officers into high schools to buy
drugs amid questions over whether the busts are fair and effective.

The School Buy program, which is conducted by the Los Angeles Police
Department on campuses across the city, caught 252 students selling drugs
over the last year. Police officials declared the campaign a success,
noting that it caught 105 more students than last year's program.

But critics said success should not be measured by the number of students
caught. They question whether the officers are actually targeting serious
dealers. They also point to the rise in special-education students caught
in recent years.

"It's my intention to do a review to make sure that the program is
appropriate and protective of students' rights," said Kevin Reed, general
counsel for the school district, whose review is likely to begin this week.

According to Los Angeles school district records, 28 special-education
students were referred for expulsion through the program this year, the
highest number in the five years for which records were available. Last
year, there were 24, and in the 2001-02 school year there were seven.

Special-education students made up about 15% of the 191 students referred
for expulsion this year, roughly the same percentage of special-education
students in the district high schools.

"We're finding that more and more special-education kids are being caught,"
said Fonna Bishop, principal of Hollywood High School, where about a third
of the students caught this year were in special education. "These are
young people who have problems, learning disabilities, emotional trouble.
They want to make friends, they want to be cool. They don't think about
consequences."

Karen Garner, a teacher at Youth Opportunities Unlimited, an alternative
high school where some expelled students are sent, said some
special-education students were being "set up" by other students.

In one instance, an older student had a special-education student act as
middleman in a drug deal, Garner said. "I'm not so sure he understood what
was going on."

A number of educators and school officials said that as serious drug
dealers have learned to evade police on campus, it is students with
disabilities and emotional troubles who are increasingly arrested.

Difficult to Distinguish

LAPD officials said they make an effort not to target special-education
students, but often can't distinguish them from other students.

"We try to stay away from special-ed kids," said Det. Marcella Piersol, who
oversees the program. "There are other things going on with these
special-ed kids. We don't want to add to their problems."

In Los Angeles Unified, special-education students can include those with
minor learning impairments as well as those with serious developmental
disabilities, according to Roger O'Leary-Archer, director of special
education policy.

The majority of special-education students have what are considered mild to
moderate disabilities, such as some forms of dyslexia or attention deficit
disorder, O'Leary-Archer said. Some face more serious challenges, such as
psychological problems or physical impairments. All special-education
students are supposed to receive instruction and services designed to help
them succeed in school.

Despite the criticisms, the school-buy program continues to have the
support of some educators, who say the undercover work is the only way
fight drug dealing.

"They're able to identify some major dealers on campus," said Doris
Lasiter, principal of Birmingham High School, where about a dozen students
were arrested in a one-day sweep early last month. "With staffing cuts, I
don't have enough people to be in all places."

Proponents of the program argue that the fact that the students are in
special education should not be a point of concern, because those teens
should not be selling drugs either.

The LAPD and Los Angeles Unified have no formal policy for the 30-year-old
drug-bust program. The police department selects the school where
undercover officers go. But the LAPD in recent years has made a stronger
effort to collaborate with school principals on how to conduct operations.

While the school district once had discretion over how to punish students
caught selling drugs on campus, a 1996 state law requires that all such
students be expelled, regardless of quantity or circumstances, school
officials said.

In the case of special-education students, federal law prohibits the
expulsion if their behavior is "a manifestation of their disability."
School officials said federal law trumps state law, and therefore they only
expel special-education students whose behavior is not considered to be
influenced by their condition.

Of the 28 special-education students referred for expulsion this year, 15
were expelled. School officials note that about a third of all referrals do
not result in expulsion for various reasons, including lack of evidence.

Effectiveness Criticized

But criticism of the program extends beyond the issue of special-education
students.

The school district's review of the program was sparked in part by the
large number of students being recommended for expulsion for selling minor
quantities of drugs, school officials said. The bigger pushers, some
educators believe, evade being caught.

Over the last five years, the unit's work has resulted in the expulsion of
567 students, school district records show. Those students also face felony
criminal charges.

"A lot of these kids are doing a friend a favor, being the in-between
person," said Linda Wilson, who for a decade has coordinated Los Angeles
Unified's Student Discipline Proceedings Unit. "Some just made a stupid
mistake. Some are lonely and just trying to make friends. Not many of them
are the hard-core drug dealers. I don't know that it does much to decrease
drugs on campus."

Drug availability in Los Angeles schools has remained largely unchanged
over the last seven years, according to a recent survey by the national
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study found that of
students asked, 37.5% said they had been offered, sold or given an illegal
drug on school property in the last 12 months, compared with 27.8%
nationally. The Los Angeles number has changed little since 1997, when
36.2% reported being offered.

Gaining Students' Trust

Both critics and supporters agree undercover officers are effective at
gaining the trust of students.

Officer Pamela Meesri, a 26-year-old with a master's degree in public
administration, enrolled in Los Angeles Unified high schools posing as a
transfer student this past year.

Meesri and her fellow undercover officers bought about $35,000 worth of
marijuana, cocaine, Ecstasy, methamphetamine, morphine, Ritalin and
steroids. While undercover, she went to classes, met with school counselors
and was treated the same any other student.

She says she befriended students she thought might sell her drugs.
Principals are the only school staff members informed of the undercover
officers' real identities.

At the end of every school semester, police sweep into the dozen or so
targeted schools and make arrests, sometimes as many as 30 per school.

"It should be a gun buy program, not a drug buy," said school board member
David Tokofsky. "In 1967, a major drug buy may have been frontier breaking.
At this point, with the violence from gun death, if the police experts
believe they have to be in the school, we ought to concentrate on violence."