North Platte finalizes drug testing policy
|
by Kathy Crawford
Landmark reporter
Parents of North Platte High School students who are involved in extracurricular activities or who want to drive to school can expect to sign a revised student drug screening policy.
The North Platte R-1 School Board approved the modified drug screening policy Monday at a special meeting. A few changes were voted on and changed from a regular session Aug. 18.
Extracurricular activities include athletics, cheerleading, academic competitions and all other activities that take place outside of the regular course of study.
The board Monday night narrowed the policy down to exclude baseline testing. The district will have only random testing, perhaps 15 students twice a month. At that rate, each student would have about a 75% chance of being tested at least once during the school year.
North Platte has established a budget of $5,000 this year to go toward the drug testing.
Employee Screening Services of St. Joseph was selected as the official third party administrator for the policy.
Before discussion began among board members at last week’s meeting, Superintendent Jeff Sumy assured board members at last week's meeting that the Missouri School Boards Association had reviewed the policy and the school district was on sound legal ground.
Sumy also told board members last week that 219 forms went out to parents and students, and all but 31 had replied. He said that about 85 percent of the students indicated they were willing to do the testing.
Monday’s changes mean new forms will have to be sent to parents.
At last week’s meeting, board member George Hoeffner said he thought the members still needed more discussion.
“We probably still have two issues to nail down,” Hoeffner said. “Who do we test and how?”
Whether that would be money well-spent when it came to baseline testing was a question on some board members' minds.
“I think these kids are pretty savvy,” Hoeffner said. “I think they can pretty well guess that they are going to get a baseline the first week of school.”
A motion was made last week only to perform random drug tests, but it didn't get a chance right away to be seconded. Board member Bill Matney said he doesn't like including students who drive to school in the drug screening policy. He said he thought the drug screening was about extracurricular school activities, not the transportation to get there.
Board member Vince Roberts made the point that if a student tests positive on a drug screen and is banned from parking at school, they very likely would just park on the street nearby. However, he still felt drivers should be included.
The board last week passed a motion to exclude baseline drug screening and only perform random tests. Matney voted no.
The other issue in the older drug screening policy that was discussed was who would be included in the random drug tests besides those who parked at the campus.
Hoeffner said he realized the language of the policy combined co-curricular activities, for which students are graded, and extracurricular activities like sports to avoid the appearance of segregation. However, the board voted to screen only students who are involved in extracurricular activities. Co-curricular activities such as band, speech and debate will not be included in the new policy.
Ask a board member why the issue of drug screening has come up, and the answer is consistent. The belief is that if high school students have a good excuse to say no to drugs, they probably will.
However, in the largest national study done, the results show no difference between schools that perform drug screening and those that do not, according to “Making Sense of Student Drug Testing” published by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Drug Policy Alliance.
Go to www.drugtestingfails.org for more information. |
