WANDERING STUDENT FINDS HOME AT CAPE SCHOOL

SIKESTON -- Brad Brown ran with the wrong crowd. He brought drugs to school. He attempted suicide.

Now he just wants to learn.

The 16-year-old doesn't look like the menace his history would indicate. He is short for his age and too skinny. He says it's his anti-depressant medication that makes him look so tired and takes away his appetite.

In some ways, Brad hasn't changed much since an incident that defined the rest of his life. His mother, Everlean Brown, said her son was always a bit immature -- small for his age and with a short attention span. At Sikeston Junior High School, he got in trouble for running in the halls and for horseplay.

But in February 1995, he was accused of something much more serious.

Mrs. Brown, 47, said an anonymous person called school officials and told them Brad had drugs in his jacket. When the officials searched the jacket, they found two marijuana joints.

When questioned, the teen said he planned to sell the joints. Today he says, "I just had them."

Either way, Brad received a 10-day suspension. Dr. Robert Buchanan, superintendent of schools, sent Mrs. Brown a certified letter dated Feb. 24, 1995. It informed her that a recommendation for expulsion would be presented to the school board. She was invited to attend.

"When the school called me, I felt like someone had stabbed me in the heart," Mrs. Brown said. "But I was thankful that they called so we could nip this in the bud."

The day after the school board hearing, the school district's attorney sent a certified letter to Mrs. Brown. It said her son had been expelled from the Sikeston School District.

Brad was left alone much of the time while his single mother went to work. He was embarrassed to go outside, afraid the neighbors would ask him why he wasn't in class.

"I stayed home and watched T.V.," Brad said. "Sometimes my mother would say, 'I haven't seen you read a book in a long time,' so I'd go get a book off the shelf and read."

Mrs. Brown was determined to enroll her son somewhere, so she took a second job to pay for a rental home in the New Madrid County Central School District. After some time in a program for teen drug offenders, Brad left his relatives behind in the Sikeston house and was enrolled in NMCC.

He constantly told his mother she was working too hard and asked her to relax. Between her two jobs, she couldn't. Mrs. Brown and Brad's two older siblings didn't notice the teen sinking deeper and deeper into depression until Nov. 18, 1995.

On that day, Brad walked outside his Sikeston residence, easily obtained a gun from a neighbor, and went back to his older brother's bedroom. While his siblings and other kids sat in the living room watching movies, Brad put the gun to his right temple and fired.

His mother got a call at her part-time job and was told to meet her children at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Brad was declared dead at the scene, but Mrs. Brown insisted he be taken to St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau.

Finally, a paramedic agreed to drive him 30 miles north. Doctors at St. Francis performed brain surgery, removing a small portion to save their patient.

Brad was in a coma for several days and stayed at St. Francis for a month. When he got stronger, he was moved to Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital in St. Louis.

The recovery was nothing short of miraculous. Brad learned to walk and speak again and retained most of his memory. He even recalls what he was wearing and what guests were visiting his home the day he attempted suicide.

After months of therapy, Brad was ready to go back to school. New Madrid County Central wouldn't take him back. Neither would Sikeston.

A report from Mary Kay Brasken, a medical social worker at Cardinal Glennon Hospital, said Brad wasn't a good candidate for home tutoring. He needed a "small self-contained classroom with consistency and structure."

"I can't remember the last time we wanted people tutored at home," Brasken said. "We want them to get the social skills."

The best option for Brad seemed to be the Sikeston Alternative Center, reopened this school year. Backers of Weed and Seed, a federal program to clean out drug dealers and weed in social programs, wanted an alternative school in Sikeston. It was touted as a new way to give kids a second chance, keeping dropouts from hanging on street corners.

Buchanan, the Sikeston superintendent, said the alternative school wasn't created for students expelled for drug possession. It was in place for years and was discontinued briefly due to budget constraints. Students placed under suspensions of 90 days or less may attend.

If she wanted to, Mrs. Brown could appeal her son's expulsion to the Sikeston Board of Education. She said it would be fruitless to do so.

Due to regulations about student privacy, Buchanan declined to comment on Brad Brown's individual case.

"Our school district is complying with the law and with our policy," he said.

The policy is different at the Cape Girardeau Alternative Education Center. Some of the students have been expelled from local schools. Fifty-five percent of them have been or are currently involved with the juvenile justice system, some of them for drug violations.

Director Sheldon Tyler makes the decision on who attends the school. On Tuesday, he decided Brad could, as long as he had residency in the Cape Girardeau Public School District.

"We don't have any specific criteria," Tyler said. "It depends on the student's record, his attitude and parental participation."

The small class size -- about 10 students per room -- and close environment makes controlling kids with drug and weapons violations easier, he said.

Brad will move in with an older niece in Cape Girardeau. School starts Monday.

The issue isn't over for Everlean Brown. She said she is saving money to hire an attorney and plans to file a lawsuit against the Sikeston School District.