ARLINGTON A local mother is outraged that the Arlington School District allowed police to question her 12-year-old daughter about a possible drug purchase on school grounds without her knowledge or consent.
Lisa Martins daughter Carrie is a seventh-grader at Post Middle School. When another student was busted for possessing marijuana on March 4, other students said Carrie was a customer and the Post Middle School principal called her into the office where an Arlington police officer questioned her. She was released and returned to class without any punishment, but her mother is furious that she wasnt notified by the school and only found out from her daughter when she got home.
My anger mostly was with the school, Martin explained. It wasnt as much the questioning by the police department but that the school never called me.
A senior school district official acknowledged that the district dropped the ball by not calling Martin, but he hastened to explain that her daughter was not a suspect at any time. Arlington School District deputy superintendent Warren Hopkins said the police were just doing their job and that the school cant impede an investigation. The district has a written memorandum of understanding with the department to that effect, he added.
She wasnt interrogated. The police just talked to her, asked her a couple questions and sent her back to class, Hopkins said. Our procedures are that we should call. In this case that got overlooked. It got overlooked because the administrator was busy, which is not an excuse, and the kid was not a suspect.
That goes against what Martin feels happened. She said Carrie was held in the office for as long as 45 minutes and is at an age where she is impressionable, and there were other students who told police that her daughter was a buyer. According to Martin the officer told her daughter the she had better be honest before laying on the questions.
Hopkins said its always the policy to call.
Why wouldnt we call parents? Thats the best way to get results, Hopkins said. We call to inform the parent to let them know, but we cant stop the police from doing their job.
He had been with the district for 19 years, in his deputy superintendent role for seven years, and this has happened before a few times. There is no specific written policy in place, just a sound practice that has been followed for the most part.
His counterpart in the Marysville School District said the matter is currently being examined at the behest of the districts attorney. By and large parents of elementary school students are called prior to any police interviews, according to assistant superintendent Gail Miller. She said it makes sense for students 16 and older to represent themselves and a staff member is always present for those interviews.
The question is when they are talked to, Miller said. We are currently under discussion about that. Legally police have a right to question students.
In addition to when, the question of where the students should be questioned has come up; at the police station or in a school office? The districts attorney raised that matter and it is complicated. Miller noted the 11,500-student district has several layers of security, including private citizens employed by the district and community service officers, sworn law enforcement personnel from the Snohomish County Sheriff or the Marysville Police Department on campus at middle and high schools.
Their job is a little bit different than having an officer come off the street, Miller said. The question for us is to see how the student is well-represented and to allow the officer to do his job. We certainly dont want to hinder an investigation, we just want to make sure the student is represented.
And that is Lisa Martins focus at this point. She acknowledges in rare occasions a parent might try interfere in an investigation where athletics eligibility or scholarships might be at stake and that some emergencies would preclude direct parent contact in a timely manner. But the Arlington mother wants a written policy in place, and thinks the response from Hopkins and the email she received from Arlington superintendent Linda Byrnes isnt enough.
Im still feeling that its a band-aid fix, Martin said. Im not feeling really good about it.
A Marysville Police spokesman said there is no clear law on the matter but the department has a policy to hold the questions in some cases.
Weve had that happen before, said Commander Ralph Krusey. If the child requests a parent, we stop questioning. I think really it boils down to the schools policy.
That would also apply during a hot or ongoing investigation, he added, stressing that a kid who demands his parent is probably not going to cooperate without one present.
You gotta look at it realistically, Krusey said.