Alcohol tests in schools gain backing

The Foxborough School Committee last week preliminarily approved the new policy, which also allows the breath test for alcohol use at school events. Board members are expected to take an official vote next Monday as part of an overall school improvement plan.

High school principal Jeffrey Theodoss said finding out who is drinking will get them the help they need and also ensure the school environment is safe and comfortable for everyone else. “Kids want structure and rules,’’ he said.

At Scituate High School, principal Donna Nuzzo-Mueller said a breath analyzer has been used a few times during school hours, when the situation warranted it.

“It’s just part of our culture in a low-key way. If we need to, we pull it out,’’ she said.

The small, handheld devices register blood-alcohol levels almost immediately; any reading over 0.02 means the person tested could be considered impaired.

In Cohasset, where school officials have also checked students for suspected drinking during school hours, Acting Police Chief Brian Noonan said he supports the use of breath analyzers wholeheartedly. And, added Lieutenant William Quigley, the tests are an important component of addressing the issue of underage alcohol use, as law enforcement and schools work together.

“We share a lot of information,’’ Quigley said.

Mansfield High School principal Joseph Maruszczak said he’s also on board with anything that will save young lives.

Mansfield doesn’t test for alcohol during the school day, but in the last two years the district has begun testing all students before extracurricular activities, he said.

“And we have never had anyone blow anything other than a zero-point-zero,’’ Maruszczak said. “Accuse me of being Big Brother, but I’d rather be accused of being heavy-handed than go to another wake or funeral. In the last 10 years, I’ve been to at least 10.’’

Mansfield, Foxborough, and Norton are part of the Tri-Town Drug and Alcohol Awareness Partnership, a cooperative of schools, police, and families that drew hundreds to an awareness event in Foxborough on Oct. 8 to hear its message that lives depend on eliminating underage drinking.

As with other communities around the region, the three towns will soon release results of a student survey funded by the US Department of Education’s Safe and Drug-Free Schools program. Officials say they expect the survey will show that the number of students who drink is small.

The superintendent of Norton’s district, Patricia Ansay, said she is philosophically opposed to using the breath tester in school, but does occasionally use it at dances.

“But we tell students ahead of time,’’ Ansay said.

“We’re not trying to catch anyone. We are using it as a deterrent, and using it during the day would take away that deterrent.’’

The strategy proposed in Foxborough is better, says Kathi Meyer of Plainville, whose 17-year-old daughter, Taylor, died last October after wandering away from an underage drinking party on the night of King Philip Regional High School’s homecoming game.

The senior was discovered three days later, drowned in a nearby swamp. Meyer said she believes her daughter might have lived if breath analyzers had been used at King Philip last fall, when she said adults saw Taylor apparently drunk before she left school property.

But a number of area school administrators see no need for the alcohol testers.

“We have a stringent drug and alcohol policy in place that clearly outlines penalties for intoxication,’’ said Jocelyn Meeks, spokeswoman for the Brockton school system, which has 15,000-plus students. But, she added, the district has no policy on using the detectors.

Some opponents of such testing, meanwhile, say breath-analysis devices can give false positives and cause legal problems.

Sarah Wunch, an American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts staff lawyer, called them little more than “gimmicks that caught on.’’ She said schools can better serve their students by using “good, old-fashioned observation skills.’’

Braintree lawyer Russell Matson, a specialist in drunken-driving cases, said the devices are not scientifically reliable.

“There could be many reasons why someone tests positive,’’ Matson said. “A student might have just used mouthwash, or had Worcestershire sauce or eaten some types of bread,’’ or popped a handful of mints.

Further, he said, medical and stomach conditions can trigger a false response, and in some cases breath-test machines mistakenly indicate alcohol consumption in someone on a high-protein diet, common among student athletes.

“Cracking down is one thing, but you actually want to get people who have done something wrong,’’ Matson said.

In Foxborough, though, Theodoss said the breath analyzer is another tool to help combat underage drinking. “Used in the right vein, it’s a positive thing to have around,’’ he said.

Michele Morgan Bolton can be reached at mmbolton1@ verizon.net.