Merriken v. Cressman

364 F. Supp. 913, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11742
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedSeptember 28, 1973
DocketCiv. A. 72-2057
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 364 F. Supp. 913 (Merriken v. Cressman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Merriken v. Cressman, 364 F. Supp. 913, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11742 (E.D. Pa. 1973).

Opinion

OPINION and ORDER

JOHN MORGAN DAVIS, District Judge.

I. FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Plaintiff, Michael Merriken, is an eighth grade student at Stewart Junior High School, Marshall and Forrest Avenues, Norristown, Pa. Plaintiff, Sylvia Merriken, is the mother of Michael Merriken, is a resident of Montgomery County, and pays real estate and other taxes to the county. (N.T. 12/1/72 at 13; N. T. 12/18/72 at 130)

2. Defendants are the Montgomery County Commissioners, the members of the Norristown Area School Board, the Superintendent of Schools of the Norris-town Area School Board, and the Principal of Stewart Junior High School. (N.T. 12/1/72 at 13-14)

3. Defendants, acting in concert with each other and with Fred Streit Associates, intend to introduce a program entitled Critical Period of Intervention (CPI) into the Norristown Area School District to be administered to eighth grade students including Plaintiff, Michael Merriken. (N.T. 12/1/72 at 14; N.T. 12/18/72 at 132; N.T. 5/18/73 at 49-50)

4. Defendants intend to expend public tax monies to implement the CPI Program. (N.T. 12/1/72 at 16)

5. The stated purpose of the CPI Program is as a drug prevention approach as contrasted with drug rehabilitation efforts. It is designed to aid the local school district in identifying potential abusers, prepare the necessary interventions, identify resources to train and aid the district personnel to remediate the problems and, finally, to evaluate the results. (N.T. 12/1/72 at 14; Plffs’ Exh. 7)

6. When suit was first instituted, Defendants did not intend to obtain the affirmative consent of parents to the participation of their children in the CPI Program. Rather, Defendants proposed a “book of the month club” approach in which a parent’s silence would be construed as acquiescence. (Plffs’ Exh. 3) It was only after suit was started that Defendants offered to change that format so that affirmative written parental consent to participation in the CPI Program would be required. (Plffs’ Exh. 4)

7. However, the revised letter to parents makes no provision whatsoever for allowing parents to see the test instrument itself. (Plffs’ Exh. 4; N.T. 5/18/73 at 128-129)

8. As originally proposed, the CPI Program contained no provision for student consent. After commencement of *915 litigation, Defendants did modify the test instrument to allow students to return a blank questionnaire. However, no affirmative written consent from the students is contemplated nor is any data made available to students in advance to assist them in their decision. (Defts’ Exh. 11; N.T. 5/18/73 at 84; 121-122; N.T. 12/18/72 at 132)

9. In addition to a letter, Defendants propose to send to parents a question and answer sheet explaining the CPI Program. (Plffs’ Exh. 5) By the admission of its author, Mr. Streit, that document is a “selling device”, “an attempt to convince the parent to allow the child to participate”. The whole purpose in composing that document “was to convince parents that they ought to allow their children to participate”. (N.T. 5/18/73 at 124) Mr. Streit acknowledged that “there is nothing in this document . . . that is critical of or negative about the CPI Program”. (N. T. 5/18/73 at 124)

10. Two child psychiatrists testified without contradiction as to several negative, and indeed dangerous aspects of the CPI Program, none of which are mentioned or referred to in any of the materials to be made available to parents. These dangers include the risk that the CPI Program will operate as a self fulfulling prophecy in which a child labelled as a potential drug abuser will by virtue of the label decide to be that which people already think he or she is anyway. (N.T. 12/18/72 at 28-29, 90-92) In fact, the CPI Program manual itself, not available to parents, acknowledges this risk. (Plffs’ Exh. 7) Another danger mentioned is that of scapegoating in which a child might be marked out by his peers for unpleasant treatment either because of refusal to take the CPI test or because of the results of the test. (N.T. 12/18/72 at 31-32, 90-91) That this is not a mere hypothetical risk was illustrated by an incident involving Plaintiff, Michael Merriken, in which fellow students accused him of being a drug user because his mother does not want him to participate in the CPI Program. (N.T. 12/18/72 at 132-35) Drs. Gordon and Hanford also described the severe loyalty conflict' that might result by asking children the types of personal questions about their relationship with parents and siblings which are included in the CPI questionnaire. (Plffs’ Exh. 1; N.T. 12/18/72 at 30-31, 86) A final example has to do with the qualifications of the personnel who will administer the so-called interventions once the results of the CPI questionnaire have been evaluated. As both psychiatrists pointed out, the types of psychotherapy that are suggested as interventions in the CPI Program are quite sophisticated and require the skills of trained psychotherapists, psychiatrists, psychologists, etc. who have undergone many years of training. However, the CPI Program contemplates that these sophisticated psychotherapy techniques will be administered by school personnel, including teachers without any particular qualifications who have undergone only a short crash course. (N.T. 12/18/72 at 36-38, 92-96; Plffs’Exh. 7; N.T. 5/18/73 at 171)

11. According to the Program, CPI is a “drug prevention approach as contrasted with drug rehabilitation efforts . . . It is designed to aid the local school district in identifying potential abusers, prepare the necessary interventions, identify resources to train and aid the district personnel to remediate the problems and, finally, to evaluate the results”. (Plffs’ Exh. 7) However, the Program nowhere defines the term “potential [drug] abuser”. All that the Program does state is that it will identify patterns similar to marijuana, LSD, barbiturate or amphetamine user. There is no reference to such drugs as cigarettes, alcohol, opium, heroin or cocaine. Moreover, there is no statement as to what -constitutes abuse. The study on which CPI is based, however, does contain “an arbitrary set of decisions . . to define the degrees of use, known or experimental, moderate or heavy”. (Plffs’ Exhs. 6 & 7; N.T. 5/18/73 at 147)

12. identification of a potential drug abuser, emotionally handicapped student, *916 or student with deviant behavior or student with specific problems is accomplished by requiring students such as Plaintiff and also their teachers to complete test questionnaires. (Plffs’ Exhs. 1 and 2) The questionnaires ask such personal and private questions as the family religion, the race or skin color of the student (Defendants have since stipulated to dropping this question), the family composition, including the reason for the absence of one or both parents, and whether one or both parents “hugged and kissed me good night when I was small”, “tell me how much they love me”, “enjoyed talking about -current events with me”, and “make me feel unloved”. In addition both students and teachers are asked to identify other students in the class who make unusual or odd remarks, get into fights or quarrels with other students, make unusual or inappropriate responses during normal school activities, or have to be coaxed or forced to work with other pupils.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
364 F. Supp. 913, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11742, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/merriken-v-cressman-paed-1973.