Schools hope students learn from prom-night tragedy

Deirdre Newman

NEWPORT-MESA -- Try to ride a bicycle backward and up a hill -- that’s

how futile parents sometimes feel their efforts are in warning their

children about the perils of doing drugs.

Sometimes, though, a tragedy can pierce the constant drone of

admonitions and crystallize the message more clearly than any adult can.

That’s what some in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District are

hoping will result from the death Tuesday of a Tustin high school student

who fell into a coma after mixing Ecstasy and alcohol after her senior

prom.

“It takes a tragedy to wake up kids . . . to the reality that there

are just some dangerous substances out there that kids think they’re

immune from,” trustee Wendy Leece said. “They think they’re

indestructible.”

Corona del Mar High School Principal Sharon Fry was so upset by Cathy

Isford’s death that she fired off a letter to parents and students on

Wednesday that she will send out before the prom. The letter references

the events leading to Isford’s death and encourages students to watch out

for each other.

“I don’t want to be a broken record, but I want one person in each

group to have the fortitude to say, ‘Don’t do that,”’ Fry said. “If we

could get that, I think we could breathe a sigh of relief.”

Ecstasy is a popular drug, particularly at rave dance parties.

Students and young adults continue to use it in increasingly higher

doses, according to a 2000 survey by Monitoring the Future.

The drug is a stimulant and hallucinogen that induces a high that can

last up to six hours. It can also create major changes in heart rate and

blood pressure, as well as lead to dehydration.

Isford, the Foothill High School senior, told family members she would

take Ecstasy the night of her prom to make the evening more special.

Although they cautioned her to be careful, she mixed two pills with wine,

beer and rum at a post-prom party. Later that morning, she collapsed,

fell into a coma and was taken off life support Tuesday after being

declared brain-dead.

Three of the four main district high schools will have their proms

June 1. Although the district invests much effort into drug prevention,

some students say Ecstasy is not mentioned as much as marijuana and

cocaine.

Some teens also say that Ecstasy is not considered to be as harmful as

heroin and cocaine.

“It’s just like, ‘Oh, it’s a party drug,”’ said Partha Patel, 17, a

senior at Middle College High School. “It makes them feel free.”

It’s that nonchalant attitude that often prevents others from making a

big deal out of someone taking Ecstasy or even trying to stop them, some

students said.

Mila Gukaylo, 17, also a senior at Middle College High School, said

it’s important for teens to know their own limits and to have friends who

will protect them.

“There should be people that are close enough to you that can see

there’s a problem,” Mila said. “[Isford’s] friends should not have let

her do so much stuff together.”