'DRUG CULTURE' ALARMS PARENTS

Suspensions Rise at High School

Leslie Lodestro says her 17-year-old son began unraveling a year ago.
He had just transferred from a private school to Los Altos High and
was trying to fit in, be cool and find success -- by hanging out with
athletes and smoking marijuana.

Today he's at a wilderness camp in Utah, sent by parents desperate to
rescue him from the "success" he found dealing drugs, fighting and
stealing.

His mother is waging war against what she says is a drug culture at
the school and an embedded denial in Los Altos. "I think the
community's worried about its image," she said.

Some parents agree, while others say concerns are overblown. "A lot
of people who are parents now who maybe smoked marijuana when they
were young look at this and say, 'Hey, if that's all my son or
daughter is doing, OK, it's better than drinking'," said Police Chief
Bob Lacey.

Still, Lacey acknowledged that police in recent weeks have stepped up
arrests for drug and burglary offenses, and he said he expects more to
come. School officials, too, say they're concerned about what they
call an uptick in drug use and violence.

Tonight, the school's Parent Teacher Student Association is sponsoring
a meeting on "Parents, teens and drugs" in the high school auditorium.

So far this year at Los Altos High, drug- and alcohol-related
suspensions have more than doubled, to at least 31. By contrast,
nearby Mountain View High, which has more students, has suspended 15
for substance abuse this year, district figures show.

Los Altos High Assistant Principal Christy Dawson agreed the school
has seen an increase in drug use and that some parents are in denial.

Six weeks ago, Erik Rutgers quit as the school's head football coach,
in part, he said, because parents and the administration wouldn't
allow him to test players for drugs.

And parents and students report that on and off campus, kids are using
marijuana as well as cocaine, alcohol, psychedelic mushrooms and
prescription drugs like OxyContin.

"Clearly, something's going on in Los Altos," said Doug Bodin of
Bodin Associates, a consulting firm in Los Altos that helps parents
struggling with their children.

National surveys report teen drug use has been more or less constant
for the past three years after dropping off from the mid-1990s. And
officials at other area districts say they are not seeing the spike
that Los Altos has.

At Los Gatos High School, drug- and alcohol-related suspensions have
risen to 32 so far this year, compared with 26 in the 2004-2005 school
year. But 13 of this year's suspensions were from a single alcohol
incident on a school field trip.

Saratoga High has suspended 16 students for substance abuse, half of
last year's number.

Dawson said the increase at Los Altos High might be due in part to a
particularly tough group of sophomores and juniors. "Parents are
really, really struggling with these kids."

That was Lodestro's experience. She said her son was violating curfews
and flunking out of school. "He was definitely calling the shots. He
became addicted to this gangster-style persona that he had created for
himself," she said.

One day shortly after Christmas, he overdosed on mushrooms and swore
off drugs -- then resumed in three days. "He was testing his
mortality," his mother said.

Another Los Altos mother, who says her son is also involved in drugs
and asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation from other
kids, said she feels stuck. "Their mantra is, 'I'm 18 now, you can't
touch me.' "

But the police can. On Friday, they arrested another student, Clinton
Elliot Milliken, 18, at school after searching his Los Altos Hills
home. Police say they had found cocaine, marijuana, illegal fireworks
and illegal knives -- a dagger and butterfly knife. He has been
released on bail, and his mother, Pamela Milliken, said her son is
innocent. "The stuff that was confiscated from Clint's bedroom was
not Clint's," she said.

Officer Susan Anderson said the Internet has helped boost the
prevalence of drugs at Los Altos High, offering forums for kids to buy
and sell drugs and to brag about their exploits.

Janet Lee of Los Altos agrees that drugs are a problem at Los Altos
High. Her son, Andrew, 19, was arrested last month on possession of
stolen property, and police have tied him to burglaries in five cities.

Last spring, while attending Los Altos High, "he just fizzled out of
school," she said. She blames his troubles on his struggle with
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

"I don't want to act like I'm a mother in denial," she added. But
"as parents, you don't know everything and you believe what your kid
tells you, and it may not always be the truth."