Madison Principal Discusses Communication Efforts for a Drug-Free Atmosphere

Madison Principal Mark Merrell said he is trying to create a culture that would discourage students from bringing drugs to school, or showing up to school drunk or high.

Some parents, Merrell said, suggested the school has not created that environment.

Which is why members of the Vienna-Madison Community Coalition say they have called meetings since last fall: to create a better dialogue about the situation.

“There was and other substances and we were right—there was a soft policy,” said Bob Picardi,  a Madison parent, at the VMCC’s November meeting. “We wouldn’t be here if it
wasn’t a perception.”

Clarence Jones, coordinator of the county's Student Safety and Wellness Office, said at the October meeting Madison has not done a drug education presentation in years. The was a step toward implementing them again.

Merrell said he is to create a safe, secure, zero tolerance environment.

“I’ve got 2,000 students and I’m trying to create a certain culture in the building, I think the most important thing that I’m trying to create for the students and the parents is a safe and secure environment," Merrell said. "The most important thing is that they are safe and secure, and along with that safety and security, we’re not going to tolerate alcohol or drug use, whether it’s during the school day or at school activities.”

After the initial VMCC meetings this fall, several of the school’s bathrooms were locked, a strategy Merrell said would allow school security to focus on increasing their patrol on the remaining bathrooms. Before the meetings, Merrell said bathrooms were patrolled at least twice a block.

Students were vocal about the change, saying it was inconvenient for people in classes at the far ends of the building where bathrooms were locked and “made Madison feel like a prison.”

All bathrooms are now unlocked, Merrell said.

In an update sent to parents in November, Merrell said bathrooms were being patrolled eight to 12 times a day. Another new policy was instructing faculty and staff to only let students out of class “if it is an absolute necessity.”

“In the past students were permitted to leave class for a drink of water or to retrieve a forgotten book during a 90-minute class,” he wrote. “Every student in the hallway during classroom hours must have a hall pass and Madison ID or the student will be escorted back to the classroom by administrative staff.”

In a December article in Madison’s student newspaper, Hawk Talk, Merrell told reporters the change had “nothing to do” with recent meetings and concerns about drug use.

“He says that discouraging teachers from letting kids leave class is to discourage theft during school and to remove distractions from other students’ learning experiences,” the article said.

Many parents at recent meetings have wondered why the administration has not brought in other strategies to reinforce their message — like smoke detectors or drug dogs.

“[One part of that atmosphere] is a zero tolerance environment. If you bring in drug dogs, that is a very expensive thing to do for a strategy the police have told me is not effective,” Merrell said.

Drug dogs are used in some places, like Langley and Fairfax High Schools, but they have not proven effective in keeping drugs out of school, said Fairfax County Police Sgt. Bill Fulton, who oversees the county’s school resource officers. They cost about $3,000 and come out of the principal’s budget, he said.

“Kids are not stupid. We rarely ever catch kids who have hidden illegal substances in their locker. If they have it in school, they have it on their body,” Fulton said. “Kids are in class when the drug dogs come in school. The dogs aren’t going to go across every single student. They’re checking physical areas of the building but not the population. It may send a message. It might deter some kids because, what if the drug dogs come back and they happen to be in the hallway, or in gym glass, or leave a substance in their car or locker? But as a useable tool that catches someone all the time, it’s a hit or miss.”

Merrell said the school has tried to install smoke detectors in the past, and students have “just yank[ed] them out.”

Parents argue it wouldn’t be difficult to put protectors or cages around the detectors, like they do with some paper towel dispensers.

Seven cameras were being installed around the exterior of the building last week, Merrell said, to supplement the three exterior cameras that already exist along the back of the school. Wiring for the seven new cameras was completed last month; the cameras should be up and running in days.

“Staff  [will] be able to monitor the majority of the exterior of the campus throughout the school day,” Merrell said.

Fulton, who has been with the force for 22 years, says the issue at Madison isn’t any different from what he’s seen at other schools in the area.

“Nothing alarming surfaced from what I was hearing [at these meetings] that would make me go, ‘We have a huge problem here,’” he said. “Do kids smoke in the bathroom? Yeah, It happens. Do kids sometimes do drugs in the bathrooms? Sure. Is it an epidemic? Not really. And if it was there’d be other signs — overdoses, kids getting caught more often and expelled from school.”

Merrell said he could not release the number of expulsions at Madison this year or what they were for, citing privacy issues. He said he could make them available at the end of each year.

“If you have a kid who is a legitimate threat to your school, you’re not going to push it under the rug,” Fulton said.

Other policies adopted since the fall include:

• All game managers wear bright yellow jackets or orange vests so they are more easily identified by parents and students at athletic events
• The zero tolerance portion of the SR+R was specifically reviewed with students in student assemblies mid-year to send a stronger message about administrative enforcement, Merrell said.
• Madison security staff in the schools will wear shirts and jackets labeled “Madison Security Staff” during the school day
• Madison purchased a second “passive alcohol sensor” for use at school events

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