April 30, 2006
DeKalb School District Starts Student Drug Testing
The DeKalb County School System has scheduled a series of public forums at various times and locations throughout the county, to receive comment about a proposed student drug testing program.
The forums will be May 1 at the Valley Head School auditorium, May 2 at the DeKalb County Facilities Center in Rainsville and May 8 at the Crossville School auditorium. The meetings are all scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m.
The system’s policy subcommittee on student drug testing set the meeting dates Wednesday, during its first official meeting to discuss the proposed drug testing program, patterned after one recently adopted for use in the Fort Payne City School System.
Liz Wear, director of the Partnership for a Drug Free DeKalb, secured a $500,000 three-year grant to establish student drug testing in both the city and county school systems. The city will begin mandatory testing June 3. Partnership’s grant calls for testing students, in seventh through 12th grade, involved in competitive interscholastic extracurricular activities. The city board will test those students, along with any student who drives on campus.
The proposed drug testing policy sets graduated penalties for students who return positive drug tests.
The program, set up to be random, can legally test up to 49 percent of the student population, Wear said. She said, if that level of testing is continued after grant money runs out, it would cost the system about $30,000 per year.
However, Wear said lowering the percentage of students tested could reduce costs. She suggested charging students more to park on campus to raise additional funds for testing.
Superintendent Charles Warren said he feels confident the system could continue to fund the program, without passing costs onto students.
“I think the money is there for this,” he said.
The subcommittee included two male students from local high schools. Both said they feel the proposed drug-testing program is a good idea.
The subcommittee talked about the possibility of requiring teacher drug testing, which Wear pointed out could not be legally implemented under the grant.
Warren said that the Alabama Education Association does not support teacher testing and Wear said the Supreme Court has ruled that current teachers aren’t subject to forced testing on the basis that working in a classroom setting presents a safety issue.
Warren said the school board could, however, enact a policy that required all new teachers hired to be subject to drug testing, and said he would pursue implementing such a policy.
He also said that the system could move to a voluntary system that would allow teachers and support personnel to sign up for drug testing off their own accord.
Nick Hall, agriculture teacher at Sylvania School, and a member of the system’s subcommittee, joined with several others on the board in supporting the idea.
“I would volunteer for drug testing and I would be a little suspicious of anyone who didn’t, to be honest,” Hall said.
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