Mark Merrell dreads the late-night phone call.
"Every time my phone rings after midnight, my wife freezes because she knows what’s coming," said Merrell, principal of Madison High School. The call, he said, will be from a police lieutenant to tell him that one of his students has died in an incident involving drugs or alcohol.
The next day, Merrell will have an assembly before the student body. "I’ve got to tell them I lost a student because they made a bad decision. There’s nothing that can prepare me for this," he said. "It’s the hardest thing I have to do, and I never want to do it again."
Merrell was speaking to a group of about 80 parents and students on Thursday, May 19 as a follow-up to a February meeting dealing with drug and alcohol use in Madison and the community at large.
Merrell pointed out that the school is a microcosm of Vienna and Fairfax County, and what happens in Madison is a reflection of the general atmosphere. "What I’m seeing here at Madison is obviously the same thing going on outside these walls," he said.
ALCOHOL AND marijuana are the main drugs of choice among the students, Merrell said, and cocaine is also making an appearance. Police officers from the Town of Vienna and Fairfax County were also on hand at the meeting, and they all confirmed Merrell’s impressions.
The officers explained that they try to educate the students so that they don’t have to arrest them later on, but it does not always work. "That’s basically what we’re talking about is the right decision making," said Officer Virginia Palmore of the Vienna Police Department.
"Through talking to the kids, they honestly feel that it is something they can get away with," said Tom Taylor of the Vienna Police Department.
Gayl Branum Carr, chief judge of the Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, rattled off statistics about the number of cases that came to juvenile court in fiscal year 2003. Carr said that drug and alcohol offenses are the number two juvenile crime, behind property offenses. "The drug and alcohol offenses are going up over the years," she said.
Carr explained that three different entities can take action in the case of a juvenile offense, the parents, the schools and the courts. "They are not dependent on one another," she said. If a student has been disciplined in the schools, it does not mean that she will not still take action in the courts.
Carr, however, is typically interested in what sort of punishments the parents have already done. Hearing, for example, that parents have taken away a student’s driver’s license for a time may change the duration for which she would revoke the driving privilege.
Carr also suggested to the parents that they make it clear to their children what punishments are in store. "Do they know, right now, what the consequence is from you? What are you going to do?" she told the parents.
PARENTS AT the meeting asked a variety of questions about proceedings. Some centered around legal consequences of a teen’s actions. Peter Feibelman asked if being charged with, but not convicted of, a crime as a juvenile goes on a person’s criminal record.
Carr explained that things that happen as a juvenile are not public record, and further, a good attorney can have a dropped charge expunged from the record.
Phyllis Rienzo hoped that the students might be able to learn from the mistakes of others and understand the consequences. "What education do the kids get that someone’s been expelled?" she said.
Merrell pointed out that school confidentiality prohibits him from telling anyone about disciplinary actions that the school has taken. However, most students know fairly quickly what has happened. "The school knows about it without fail, within a day," Merrell said.
Unfortunately, he continued, students fail to see the situation as applying to them. "The kids reaction is, ‘They’re really stupid. They’re never going to catch me,’" Merrell said.
Another parent asked if police and school officials can report to parents about a student’s actions. Some parents don’t want officials inserting themselves into the family life, said Officer Tom Harrington of the Fairfax County Police. "We get those parents that don’t care and don’t want to know," he said.
Carr, who has a 16-year-old of her own, suggested that parents let officials know that they want to keep informed. "You’ve got to put the word out that you want to know what’s going on with your daughter," she said.