Pubdate: Fri, 02 May 2014
Source: Plain Dealer, The (Cleveland, OH)
Copyright: 2014 The Plain Dealer
Contact: http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/letter-to-editor/
Website: http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/342
Author: Patrick O'Donnell

POLICE WON'T BE SEEKING DRUG TEST RESULTS AT ST. ED'S, ST. IGNATIUS AND 
GILMOUR ACADEMY

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The county and police won't likely be seeking
charges against students because of any positive drug tests at St.
Edward, St. Ignatius or Gilmour Academy high schools, the Cuyahoga
County Prosecutor's office and police said this week.

Because the schools are not required to report positive tests to
police, and because having evidence of drugs in your body is not a
crime, in and of itself, prosecutors don't expect to be involved at
all in the testing that will start at those three schools in the fall.

All three schools announced Monday that they will start testing the
hair of all students for drugs this fall. The schools each say the
tests are not meant to punish students, just to deter use and to
identify students with substance-abuse issues and help them.

But some have wondered if positive tests could lead to police
involvement and criminal records.

Joseph Frolik, spokesman for Prosecutor Timothy McGinty, said he
doubts that.

First, he said, the schools don't have to report any positive drug
tests to police. While schools are required to inform authorities if
they believe a child is being physically or sexually abused,
prosecutors aren't aware of any similar requirement that schools
report drug test results to police.

Positive drug tests for students, Frolik said, would be viewed the
same way as a job applicant that fails a drug screening. Employers
don't report those drug tests results to police and police don't
usually seek them out.

"If someone fails a drug test for a job, even for a job in this
office, we don't report them to police," Frolik said. "It just doesn't
work that way."

And a positive test is not a crime on its own, Frolik
said.

"What would you charge them with?" he asked. "They're not at the
moment in possession."

McGinty is on the board of trustees of St. Edward.

Lt. Greg Minichello of the Gates Mills Police Department said his
department has a good relationship with Gilmour Academy and plans to
let the school handle the tests and any positive results in its own.

"Right now, our stance is going to be that it is between the school
and the student and the parents," Minichello said. "We'd just let that
be handled internally."

He said officers would look into any issue that Gilmour reports to
them, but don't plan to seek test results. He wasn't sure what would
happen if police were already investigating a student and whether
officers would seek to subpoena the drug tests of that student.

"We'd have to look at the entire situation and decide on our game
plan," he said.

Police have not sought test results at some other places where
students are tested for drugs.

In the Brunswick school district, where the high school tests a more
limited number of students each year, police have never sought test
results, said Assistant Superintendent Tracy Wheeler.

The Polaris Career Center, the regional career training center in
Middleburg Heights, has also tested students in select programs for
about 10 years. But spokesman Doug Miller said the center does not
share results with police, and police have never asked.

The only exception, he said, if if a student is found in possession of
drugs at school. The center's policy then calls for police to be
notified and for the student to be tested. But Miller said a positive
test alone is never reported to police.

The Vermilion schools also test a limited number of students, but
Police Chief Chris Hartung doesn't look at results at all.

"We don't have anything to do with it," Hartung said. "We don't know
who's testing positive."

He said the department could theoretically subpoena results for an
individual student, but it would have to be a "pretty monumental"
investigation, like for drug dealing or being involved in a fatal auto
accident.

"That would be very limited circumstances," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Matt