Schools to Review Drugs, Booze Policy

A lawsuit challenging the school district’s zero tolerance of drugs and alcohol has prompted trustees to review their policy.

After a teenager’s family sued the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, the board agreed to meet on the issue either late this month or early in November. The lawsuit has since been dropped.

The McCartin family sued the district in September after 17-year-old Jennifer McCartin was transferred from Estancia High School to Newport Harbor High for 90 days because she admitted to drinking beer before a school dance.

The McCartins dropped the suit after Superior Court Judge Ronald C. Kline, in a preliminary hearing, declined to allow Jennifer back to Estancia. The family, Kline said, did not prove the policy had caused her irreparable harm.

Speaking before the board recently, however, June McCartin said her daughter has indeed suffered. She said the punishment amounts to public humiliation and is far too severe.

“My daughter goes to school solemn and comes home depressed,” June McCartin said, adding that at Newport Harbor her daughter is forced to attend drug counseling.

Jennifer McCartin admitted to having a couple of beers at a private party before a Hawaiian-themed dance at Estancia in June. She was suspended for three days, in accordance with district policy, and was later informed she would be transferred temporarily to another school.