Pubdate: Fri, 16 Nov 2001 Source: Ann Arbor News (MI) Copyright: 2001 The Ann Arbor News Contact: http://aa.mlive.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/20 Author: Peri Stone-Palmquist Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) SCHOOLS TEST FOR DRUG USE Clinton starts program after former student dies. Donny Skidmore arrived at the hospital blue, with no shoes on. His friends brought him there - the same friends he partied with the night before. Donny's father, Donald Skidmore, got the call at 10 a.m. Aug. 31. His 18-year-old son, a Clinton High School dropout, was dead from an apparent drug overdose. Just two months earlier, Donny told his father he would straighten out. He took a job digging graves - and in the end, dug his own. It's not news one would expect out of the Clinton area, a rural community straddling Washtenaw and Lenawee counties. And it's not the kind of issue one would expect Clinton Community Schools, one of the smallest districts in the region, to face head on. Yet in the shadow of Donny's death, the school board approved a rare but increasingly popular drug-testing policy that Michigan drug czar Craig Yaldoo said puts the district at the cutting edge of drug prevention. Under the new policy, middle school and high school teachers who suspect a student is using can file a report with the principal, who decides whether to administer a $20 oral drug test. In the presence of a third party, the principal conducts the test at school, typically after calling a parent, and has results back within 15 minutes. An outside laboratory retests positive results before disciplinary action is taken. A student is suspended three days for a first offense. A student's refusal to take the test is considered an admission of guilt. Only a handful of schools across the state - none in this region - have enacted similar policies. Instead, schools rely on students' confessions in a meeting with the principal or more subjective means, such as whether a student smells like marijuana, as the basis for suspension. Several schools, including Ypsilanti and Milan, provide for opportunities to participate in voluntary substance testing off site. Clinton's policy was in the works for three years, but losing a former student brought a sense of urgency to the district's mission, High School Principal James DuVall said. Donny's death affirmed the need to be proactive, he said. "It's time to stop this," he said. DuVall said he considers drug use a "small problem" in the district with fewer than two incidents per year on average in the past four years. Still, the district sought additional ways to protect nonusers from users. DuVall said he believes the test will serve as a deterrent, dissuading students from bringing drugs to school or using during the week. School staff must rely on physical clues - bloodshot or glazed eyes, diluted pupils, slurred speech, impaired motor skills or unusual behavior - to report a student. The school has owned a Breathalyzer for years, but it didn't have a foolproof way to test for drugs, DuVall said. "This takes the question out of it," he said. But Michael J. Steinberg, legal director for the Michigan chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said he questions the accuracy of a test using saliva and not urine. He said such tests are flawed and could result in a student being falsely accused. Matt Andrie, director of marketing for the company making Clinton's drug test, said Avitar Inc.'s ORALscreen is highly accurate and permits fewer chances for tampering than a urine test. Steinberg also said he was concerned the system could be abused, but DuVall said the school would not allow random testing. He said he's worked with school attorneys extensively and believes the district has a strong, legal grounding. Yaldoo, director of Michigan's office of drug control policy, also said the testing plan is legally sound since the school is testing only suspicious students. Since Oct. 18, DuVall has received two reports from teachers suspecting students of drug use. One admitted using marijuana and no test was administered. A second student denied the accusation and took the test. "He was a little nervous so there was no saliva at first," DuVall said. After giving the student a glass of water, DuVall placed the thermometer-like foam collector in the student's mouth. About two minutes later, he pushed a clear hood against the foam to squeeze the saliva onto the sample well. After 15 minutes, red lines appeared for marijuana, cocaine, opiates and methamphetamine, meaning the student was clean. It was a relief for everyone, DuVall said. The school doesn't want to see anyone else end up like Donny. Last week, Donald Skidmore tried to drive that message home, telling several teens his son's story and urging them to take a different path. "Donny was a good kid," Donald said, recalling his son's love of baseball, golf, fishing, church. "But he's gone because of drugs. ... It could happen just as easily to you." Donny started skipping school more than a year ago, Donald said. By Thanksgiving, he dropped out, and without a diploma, struggled to find good-paying work. In June, he hit rock bottom, Donald said. With no job or money, Donny called his father and promised to straighten out and earn a GED. On the last night of his life, Donny helped his sister, Heather, 14, with her homework and stood out on the deck with his dad, assuring him that everything was OK, that he'd be fine. He was wrong. A toxicology analysis showed traces of four drugs in Donny's system: Valium, an opiate, an anti-depressant and an anti-seizure medicine, none prescribed for medical reasons. "It's not a good way to go," Donald Skidmore told the teens. "I want you to just say no. Be straight. We're not here to get you in trouble. We just don't want to see anyone else die." - --- MAP posted-by: Josh