DRUG ARTICLE SPURS HIGH SCHOOL DEBATE

BRADENTON - While school and district officials investigate how a graphic
tale of drug abuse wound up in the latest edition of the Manatee High
School newspaper, debate over the propriety of such an article continues.

While school and district officials opposed the inclusion of the article in
the school paper, some Manatee High parents praised the article for
illuminating a serious and frightening subject.

"As I read the article and heard responses from all of my children, all
four expressed interest in addressing this problem, because everyone is
aware of the drug problem at Manatee," said Kathryn Dalton, 42, a
recovering substance abuser who said she has a master's degree in mental
health counseling. "I'd like to start an advocacy group with other parents
at Manatee to see that articles like this continue."

In Thursday's edition of The Macohi, an article titled "An Addict's Tale"
told the detailed story of an anonymous student's addiction to OxyContin, a
prescription pain-killer, and heroin. The tale included explicit accounts
of drug experimentation and allusions to drug dealing and homosexual sex in
exchange for drugs.

District officials and Manatee Principal Lynda Boyer voiced strong
opposition to the inclusion of the article in the school paper. They
promised parents a review of procedures that would keep similar articles
from being published in the future.

Boyer was unaware of the article's existence before arriving at school
Thursday morning. She learned about the article when students brought
copies of the paper into the school office to complain.

Considering the circumstances, Boyer said Friday was unusually calm at the
west Bradenton campus.

"I've had less reaction than I thought there might have been," Boyer said.
"I've talked to some students, and two parents contacted me. The general
reaction is that this is a topic that needs to be addressed. There is also
a concern that information in the article about how to use the different
drugs was too graphic."

Another Manatee parent, Ronda McCarrick, said her son is suffering the
affects of substance abuse.

"What I've learned is that unless my son is arrested or gets in trouble
with the law, there's not a program at Manatee High or in the county that
will help him," McCarrick said. "There're parents like me out there that
are screaming for help while our children are falling through the cracks."

Harry Kinnan, chairman of the Manatee County School Board and a graduate of
Manatee, said the school does take steps to help kids in trouble.

"It's important to note that Manatee High drug tests its athletes, provides
peer counseling to students and has a program in place to help kids resist
some of the temptations out there," Kinnan said.

Still, Kinnan admitted he was troubled by the contents of the article.

"The serious nature of the article certainly warrants our looking into it,"
Kinnan said. "We need to investigate this at the school level and the
district level."

As to how the article made it into print, Boyer and district officials said
the investigation into that matter was ongoing.

Boyer said her understanding of the school paper's procedures called for an
editorial board, made up of students and a faculty adviser, to edit the
paper's content. Linda Van Metre, a teacher at the school, is the paper's
faculty adviser. Van Metre has not returned phone calls from the Herald.

Boyer said in her three years as principal at the school, she's never made
a practice of reading the paper before it goes to print.

Dwayne Gissendanner, a senior member of The Macohi staff, described the
paper's operation as loose-knit.

"I didn't know about the article until it came out because I was doing my
page somewhere else," Gissendanner said. "Ms. Van Metre is the one we give
all of our articles to. She checks them all before they go to print."

Gissendanner said he wasn't aware of any editorial board or committee that
reviewed the content of the paper prior to its publication.

According to Marianne Lorentzen, district spokeswoman, there is no
districtwide policy for content review of newspapers: It's up to each
individual school.

At Southeast High, faculty adviser Randy Funderburke said he controls what
goes into the school's paper.

"It's pretty much up to me," Funderburke said. "Ultimately, I'm responsible."

At Palmetto High, faculty adviser Carla Bragdon takes a more cautious approach.

"I do put it through my principal before it goes to press," Bragdon said.
"The kids are usually pretty good about it."

At Manatee, Boyer said the school would formulate new procedures for its
paper, although it was too early to say what those might include.

"I am concerned about student drug use and involvement in any lifestyle
that is dangerous," Boyer said. "I'm committed to anything that's going to
protect our students."