Parents and community members listen as Westlake High School Principal Tim Freeman (in front of the podium) addresses the issue of drug use among adolescents during a Feb. 19 meeting at the Westlake Schools Performing Arts Center. (West Life photo by Kevin Kelley)

Parent tips helped break heroin case
By Kevin Kelley
Westlake
Published Feb 27, 2008

New details were revealed about what led to the recent drug-related arrests of three Westlake High School students at a community meeting in which parents and school leaders considered how to tackle the problem of illegal drugs use by adolescents.

The meeting, held in the Westlake Schools Performing Arts Center Feb. 19, was organized by the district and the Westlake Parent Connection in response to the recent arrests of three Westlake High School students on drug charges.

Dani Altieri Marinucci, president of the WPC, said while the heroin-related arrests came as a shock to many, it was not unexpected to others.

Westlake High School Principal Tim Freeman said the high school has had strategies for combating drug abuse in place for some time and was not “just waking up” to the problem as a result of the heroin headlines.

“I take the safety of our kids very, very seriously,” he said. The school will continue to be aggressive in addressing the issue, he said, but added that the community has to address the issue as well.

Until late night managers at fast food restaurants call the police to report teen customers who are drunk “rather than say ‘I wish they’d get their food and get out of here,’” the problem will not be resolved, Freeman said.

Freeman reported that in recent months, several Westlake parents discovered their kids were using drugs and got their kids treatment.

“As part of getting the kids help, it came out that they were using heroin,” Freeman said. The parents shared this information with school officials, he said.

On the morning of Jan. 30, Freeman said the school received a call from a Westlake community member who was friends with a Bay Village community member.

“The Bay Village parent was concerned about a young lady that came to her house that she believed was involved with heroin,” Freeman told the audience. “Her son was involved and under supervision at home, and she was afraid that there was a delivery taking place. She called her friend in Westlake who subsequently called the schools.”

When the girl arrived for school, she was detained. Freeman said heroin residue was subsequently found on a small piece of magazine paper. Westlake Officer Scott Fortkamp, the high school’s resource officer, determined she was under the influence of some substance, Freeman said.

Further searches were made of the student’s locker, vehicle and person, Freeman said.

“Working with Westlake Police, we were able to get a policewoman who did a more invasive search. The heroin was discovered — three doses, in addition to the one she was on before coming to school that morning,” Freeman said.

Based on other information, Westlake Police began investigating two 17-year-old students, Freeman said.

According to Westlake Police, search warrants were obtained for the residences of the two students Feb. 6. While the searches were taking place, police arrested the two at the high school in connection with drug activity.

“Both students are involved in due process and have not returned to the high school,” Freeman said.

Freeman said the high school takes a very aggressive stance toward drug use.

Punishment for showing up at school under the influence can range from a 10-day suspension that can be reduced to a five-day suspension if parent cooperation and treatment takes place, to a 10-day suspension with a recommendation that the student be expelled. Cases where students are caught selling or sharing drugs always get the most severe punishment, Freeman said.

“Police are always involved,” Freeman said.

Students who are using drugs seldom get caught by chance, the principal said. It’s almost always because someone raised concerns first, he said.

“Parents who communicate, and kids who are comfortable communicating in school save lives and make a difference as far as intervention in this kind of stuff,” Freeman said.

Tony DiBiasio, a child and adolescent psychiatrist who works for the Fairview Park Schools, said loyalty and a culture of silence in terms of not “tattling” is very important to teens.

“We have to help them break that culture of silence when things occur that put kids at risk,” he said.

Indeed, some parents said their children have expressed concern about retaliation if rumors are reported to school officials.

In response to a question about whether anonymous ways of reporting concerns are available to parents, Freeman said the school will follow up on any anonymous calls made regarding the safety of students. He added that is actually the way most serious incidents are discovered.

Freeman said that he has observed that students have no hesitation reporting fellow students who smoke on campus because smoking has become socially unacceptable. The same “unacceptable” stigma needs to fall on illegal drug use, he said.

Kathy McGinty, the high school’s prevention coordinator for 18 years, said there’s not one single profile that can be used to identify students who are using illegal drugs.

“It could be anybody’s kid,” McGinty said. “It could be a kid who’s on the honor roll. Or it could be a kid who’s just barely getting by (academically). It could be a star athlete.”

Jo Toomey, an addiction treatment specialist, said some possible signs of drug abuse or addiction among adolescents can be unexplained money missing, prescription painkillers missing from the family medicine cabinet, and lost of unaccounted for time away from the home. Sleepovers at friends’ homes, where teens may experience less supervision, could be another warning sign, she said.

Freeman said the group most troubled by the news of the students’ arrests has been the senior class.

“The kids have internalized enough the concept of pride to say ‘This isn’t who we are and this isn’t what we want to be defined by,’” Freeman said.

Freeman said the school’s pride hasn’t disappeared. But he added that how the school ultimately reacts to recent developments will determine the school’s sense of pride.

MORE PROGRAMS: At 7 p.m. March 10, the school district and Westlake Parent Connection will present a talk by Elaine and James Psarras, who will discuss the death of their son Andy from a heroin addiction.

At 7 p.m. April 1, Dr. Madeline Levine, a practicing child psychologist, will discuss her book, “The Price of Privilege: How Parental Pressure and Material Advantage Are Creating a Generation of Disconnected and Unhappy Kids.”

Levine, who counsels troubled teens from affluent families, has observed that wealth — which is thought to be a great advantage in the formative years — is often producing depressed, anxious, angry and bored teenagers.

Both programs take place in the Westlake Schools Performing Arts Center, adjacent to the high school at 27830 Hilliard Blvd.