ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, May 16, 1996 TAG: 9605160171
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
note: below
Eighth-grader Donnie Thorne has been expelled from James Madison Middle School for giving a Ritalin pill to a friend as a favor, but he might be allowed back in school next year.
The Roanoke School Board has approved a disciplinary panel's recommendation that both Thorne and his classmate be expelled because the Ritalin was sold to another student, a violation of the school's drug policy.
Thorne, 14, said he gave the pill to his friend, who he knew had once taken the drug for an attention disorder, but he did not know the boy planned to sell it. A third student was also involved and was expelled, but officials refused to explain the involvement.
In an unrelated case, another student was expelled from city schools for distributing Ritalin this week, as school officials try to crack down on growing abuse of the drug. School officials would not identify the school or discuss the details.
Ritalin is a prescription drug that is used to treat attention deficit disorder. Some teen-agers without attention disorders are using it to get high, but it can be harmful.
A 19-year-old Roanoke boy died of cardiac arrest last year after taking Ritalin at a party. Some teen-agers have said that snorting the drug has become common at parties.
The School Board has left open the possibility that all four expelled students can be readmitted if they successfully complete a summer school program of academics and counseling.
"While we have expelled them, we have not thrown them out on the street and said they can never come back," said Nelson Harris, board chairman.
"It is really up to them to shape up and complete the rigorous program that also involves their parents," Harris said. "If they complete the program, their record will be reviewed by the superintendent, who will make the decision on whether they can return."
Donnie said Wednesday he will enroll in the program and wants to return to school in the fall.
"They say that if I do OK, I can go on to the ninth grade next year," he said. "I'm glad I'll have a chance to go back."
When Thorne went to the office at Madison Middle School to get his Ritalin one day recently, he got an extra pill from the bottle for his classmate. "My friend didn't say what he was going to do with it, but I thought he was going to take it."
The other student does not want to be identified and school officials have refused to name him. The board uses student numbers, not names, when it votes on expulsion cases.
Donnie's mother, Margot, thinks school officials must share some responsibility for the case because they did not closely supervise distribution of the drug. Donnie said no school official watched him while he took two pills from the bottle. The bottle stays in an envelope, which is kept in the school's office in a basket with the envelopes and bottles for other students who take Ritalin.
School officials said they are reviewing the city's procedures for distributing Ritalin to students to make sure they receive only the prescribed number of pills. They said school nurses or other school personnel are supposed to distribute medications and to document what is given to students. Students are not supposed to have unsupervised access to their medications while they are in school.
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines ILLUSTRATION: headshot of Thorne colorby CNB