Board of Ed Bars Stealth Try on Breathalyzer Policy

The Board of Education Tuesday night shot down a request from a board member to discuss - and possibly vote on - a policy that would require all students attending school dances to take a breathalyzer test.

School board member Perry Liu had wanted the board to possibly vote on the policy Tuesday night, even though it was not on the board's agenda and the board had voted April 27 to wait until June 8 to vote on it. Adding it to the agenda Tuesday night without public notice required six of nine school board members to agree.

Liu said the breathalyzer policy had been reviewed by the board's Policy Subcommittee, hadn't changed much and that school administrators and Supt. of Schools Ann Clark supported it.

"If we look at it tonight, as a board, we can move this forward, and it can do good for our district," Liu said Tuesday night.

But Board of Education Vice Chairman Pam Iacono said she didn't think it was right to discuss and vote on a controversial policy without notifying the public ahead of time. "It's going to create ill will among community members. In keeping with the spirit of open communication and transparency, I would not support it," she said.

School board member Catherine Albin said she hadn't seen the policy since it went back to the Policy Subcommittee and she too wouldn't support Liu's request.

Board member Tim Kery said he thought school administrators wouldn't be able to implement the new policy by Saturday's prom, which was a concern of board members back on April 27. "It was too tight a window in two weeks. Seeing how the window is three days, I don't see how that situation has improved," he said.

Clark said she wasn't sure the school district could get enough breathalyzers in three days to test every student and she didn't think the district could notify every student of the new policy by Saturday's prom.

Donald Houston, an attorney for the school board, said on April 27 that the Board of Education could face increased liability if it adopted the policy, couldn't implement it in time for the prom and a tragedy involving underage drinking took place. He said back then that the board also had to ensure students were notified of the new policy.

Betty Ann O'Shaughnessy, a Ludlowe High PTA member who advocated for the new policy on April 27, said Tuesday night that the board should put it on the agenda. She said students had been notified via a "prom promise" that they faced the possibility of a breathalyzer test, and Nancy Billington, past president of Ludlowe High's PTA, said the policy now in place relies on school administrators to subjectively decide which students are given breathalyzer tests.

School board members said in April that the policy to breathalyze all students originated with Ludlowe High parents who felt that administrators at Ludlowe High scrutinized students at school dances more closely than administrators at Fairfield Warde High School.

"There's no consistency. You should worry about fairness," Billington said Tuesday night to the school board.

Billington said she believed school administrators could get breathalyzers in time for the prom and that they were no more difficult to use than a thermometer.

Liu said residents who attended the board's April 27 meeting on the breathalyzer policy were in support of it. "I think it's a really important policy, and I would like to see it. I think administrators will go all out to have it for dances this year," he said.

But Kery said the school board could set a precedent by discussing and voting on controversial policies without public notice.

Board Chairman Sue Brand said the board was allowed to do that under something known as "Robert's Rules of Order" if two-thirds of board members agreed. "It has been done. It's not common practice," she said.

Board member John Mitola said adding items to an agenda during a meeting usually wasn't done when a lot of people were interested in the item. "Normally, it's not something of this magnitude," he said.

In the end, Brand, Liu and board member Sue Dow voted to add the new breathalyzer policy to Tuesday night's agenda. Iacono, Kery, Mitola, Albin, board secretary Stacey Zahn and board member Paul Fattibene voted against.