Pubdate: Wed, 29 Mar 2006
Source: Lowell Sun (MA)
Copyright: 2006 MediaNews Group, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.lowellsun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/852
Author: Lisa Redmond, and Bridget Scrimenti
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

SCHOOL NURSE: OFFICIALS KNEW OF TEACHER DRUG CONCERNS

WESTFORD -- A Stony Brook Middle School nurse says  teachers, 
guidance counselors and nurses repeatedly  reported their concerns 
about former teacher Jessica  Palkes' possible drug problem to the 
school's principals well over two years ago.

But School Superintendent Stephen Foster says he didn't  learn of 
Palkes' heroin problem until her arrest this  past January.

Yesterday, the principals weren't talking. And neither was Foster.

In an "open statement to the Westford Community," Stony  Brook nurse 
Sally Pratt wrote in a letter that the  school staff reported their 
concerns about Palkes to  Stony Brook Principal Joan Barry and 
Assistant  Principal Joe Jette as far back as September 2003, long 
before Palkes' Jan. 6, 2006, arrest on heroin charges.

Pratt made her letter public at last week's School  Committee 
meeting. She declined further comment.

"The first time I heard anything about Jessica Palkes  was the 
afternoon she was arrested by the Police  Department," Foster said in 
an interview Monday, before  The Sun obtained a copy of the letter.

When contacted yesterday for a comment as to whether  she shared the 
staff members' concerns over Palkes with  Foster, Barry said, "I 
won't comment on the case.  That's all been with the superintendent."

Jette could not be reached for comment.

And despite attempts to reach Foster via telephone and  e-mail 
yesterday to ask him whether his principals  shared their staffs' 
concerns about Palkes with him,  the superintendent, through his 
secretary, said he  would have no further comment.

Palkes made headlines when she was arrested by a  Westford police 
officer for not having an inspection  sticker on her 1992 Honda 
Civic. As a result of the  traffic stop, police learned there was a 
warrant for  Palkes' arrest out of Woburn District Court 
for  nonpayment of traffic fines.

During her booking at the Westford police station,  police found a 
hypodermic syringe in Palkes' purse  along with a small plastic bag 
containing several dozen  cotton balls -- two with heroin residue -- 
and a  plastic vial containing a clear, liquid substance with 
unidentified particles.

Palkes told police she started using heroin about two  years ago -- 
injecting a $50 bag of heroin every two  days -- either alone or with 
her boyfriend. But she  claimed she had not used heroin since August.

When officers asked her to roll up her sleeves, Palkes  had five 
needle marks on her arms. One or two were  scabbed over, police 
reported, but the others were "fairly fresh marks," and she had 
several red marks on her hands and wrists, the report states.

In Ayer District Court Friday, Palkes, 30, of Medford,  admitted to 
sufficient facts to charges of possession  of a class A drug 
(heroin), possession of a hypodermic  needle, and driving after 
license suspension. She was  also found responsible for an 
inspection-sticker violation.

Palkes, a former three-year sixth-grade language-arts  teacher, had 
her case continued without a finding for  one year, during which she 
is on probation. While on  probation, she must undergo drug and 
alcohol evaluation  and treatment, along with random drug screens.

In her letter, Pratt criticized Foster for giving the  impression at 
a Jan. 23 School Committee meeting that  the staff had not recognized 
the problems concerning  Palkes, even though she says Foster met with 
some Stony  Brook staff members on Jan. 17 to discuss their ongoing 
concerns. He also met with Pratt separately on Jan. 18.

"Every day that I open the newspaper I hope to see an  article saying 
that the teachers, nurses and guidance  counselors did recognize 
signs that Miss Palkes was  having trouble and that we repeatedly 
notified our  administrators," Pratt wrote.

"It is hurtful to hear in public and to read in the  paper time and 
time again that the Stony Brook staff  did not notice anything 
concerning Ms. Palkes. ... It  matters because students and their 
parents need to know  that when they are in school they are with 
teachers,  nurses and guidance counselors who are knowledgeable  and 
caring and who will do the right thing," she wrote.

In an interview Monday, Foster said it was never his  intention to 
imply that members of the Stony Brook  staff were not sensitive to Palkes.

"The reality is that teachers and staff at Stony Brook  have always 
conducted themselves in a caring,  professional, and responsible 
manner," Foster said.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman