Third-grader runs afoul of school drug policy

A third-grader who admitted smoking marijuana recently at Muldown Elementary School became one of the first students disciplined under the Whitefish School District's new suspicion-based drug-testing policy.

No one saw the boy smoking pot in the boys' restroom, Superintendent Jerry House said, but teachers could smell the smoke. Because teachers keep close track of who they let use the restroom, it wasn't difficult to find a likely suspect.

Other students confirmed school officials' suspicions, House said; the boy allegedly asked some of his peers if they wanted to smoke, too. When officials recovered a pipe, which was hidden under a shed on the playground, the boy confessed.

Under Whitefish's drug-testing policy, which the school board approved Aug. 12, the district may test any student who exhibits signs of being under the influence of drugs or alcohol. A specially trained staff member - part of an intervention specialist team - judges whether reasonable suspicion exists.

In this instance, with the boy's confession, reasonable suspicion did exist. School officials contacted the boy's parents to get permission to drug test.

Muldown Principal Jill Rocksund would not confirm if the boy was given a drug test. His parents were notified, she said, and district policy was followed. She declined to give further details, stating the incident was a disciplinary issue and therefore confidential.

According to the drug-testing policy, students who test positive must agree to see a licensed drug counselor or face a three-day suspension. The boy and his parents have seen a counselor, House said, and he is in school.

Three others, all students at Whitefish High School, have been disciplined under the new policy.

They were identified by intervention specialist team members, who all have received training through the Flathead Valley Chemical Dependency Clinic, House said. Whitefish High School Principal Kent Paulson, Assistant Principal Pat Audet, Activities Director Jackie Fuller and school nurse Terri Dunn are trained to identify students who may be under the influence.

Ultimately there will be team members at the district's other schools as well, House said.

If a team member determines a student may be under the influence, school officials call the student's parents to get permission to drug test. If a parent gives approval, a test is administered immediately by the school principal or a trained assistant.

Parents don't have to give approval. In one of the recent infractions at the high school, one student's parents opted against testing.

That student was suspended for three days, the punishment for first-time offenses under existing school rules, House said.

Two other high school students did submit to drug testing. For students who test positive, agree to receive drug counseling and do not have any additional violations, the three-day suspension will be rescinded, House said.

Although the drug-testing policy is in place, procedures are still somewhat fuzzy.

School board trustees approved the first reading, with some grammatical and wording changes, of the drug-testing procedures at their regular meeting Tuesday night. There will be further investigation before the policy's second reading, however, specifically regarding the rights of 16- and 17-year-olds and compassion for young offenders.

The policy states that the school does not have to ask parental permission to drug-test emancipated 18-year-olds. Students that age are legally adults.

But under Montana law, 16- and 17-year-olds also have more rights than children 15 and younger. According to school board trustee and Whitefish Assistant Police Chief Mike Ferda, law enforcement officers cannot interrogate children younger than 16 without parental permission. Sixteen- and 17-year-olds can waive that right.

Although that applies in criminal cases, House wants to investigate the law's potential implications on the drug-testing policy before the board's next meeting.

Also of concern is the policy's cumulative design, in which offenses build over the course of a student's public-school career.

The third-grader, for example, will carry his offense until he graduates from high school. If he tests positive for drugs or alcohol again, he will face a minimum 40-day suspension, even if that second offense takes place years from now.

Trustee Eric Hosek suggested a more lenient policy.

"I don't want a child to move through our entire school system for a sixth-grade mistake drinking beer," he said. "To me, it's more common sense.

"It's just more compassionate than anything."

Building administrators will consider Hosek's suggestion, House said. The board will continue to discuss the policy at future meetings.

The district has not yet forsaken the opt-in, voluntary, random testing policy that was tabled at the school board's Aug. 12 meeting. That policy would have applied only to students who participate in extracurricular activities.

A board-appointed committee of trustees, community members and district employees have met three times to discuss the policy. They will meet twice more before Shannon Hanson, a trustee and committee member, will present the committee's findings to the board.

Little consensus but a great deal of valuable information has come out of those meetings, House said.

"What it is, is good discovery," he said. "It's going great, it really, truly is."

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.