Pubdate: Thu,  5 Oct 2000
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright: 2000 The Dallas Morning News
Contact:  P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, Texas 75265
Fax: (972) 263-0456
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Author: Sandy Louey
Note: Sandy Louey can be reached at 214-977-6984 and  http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (drug testing clippings)

WYLIE SCHOOL'S DRUG-TESTING POLICY ALTERED

Board Votes To Include Band, Choir Students

Wylie school trustees decided Tuesday night to extend the district's new 
random drug and alcohol testing policy to include students in band and choir.

Those two groups were not included two weeks ago, when trustees gave final 
approval to the plan to randomly test junior high school and high school 
students who participate in extracurricular activities. The revised plan 
requires all students in grades seven through 12 involved in 
extracurricular activities to undergo random testing.

School board President John M. Simmons said trustees decided to revisit the 
issue Tuesday night after hearing from some parents of students in athletic 
programs who complained that band and choir students were being given an 
unfair exemption from the policy.

"We basically went back and looked at it," Mr. Simmons said.

The change means that 850 students at Wylie Junior High School and Wylie 
High School will be affected, an increase of about 50 students. The testing 
pool will not increase more dramatically because many of the band and choir 
students are also involved in other extracurricular activities, 
Superintendent H. John Fuller said.

Band and choir had previously been excluded from the policy because those 
activities are not strictly extracurricular, Dr. Fuller said. Band and 
choir students take classes in which their grades are based partly on their 
participation in activities. Administrators did not want punishment under 
the policy to jeopardize a student's grade.

"It was the administration being cautious," Mr. Simmons said. "They were 
trying to do what was the best for the district."

Before Tuesday's meeting, discussions were held with other district staff 
about how band and choir could be included in the testing program without 
affecting their class requirements, Dr. Fuller said.

Under the revised policy, if a member of these groups tests positive and he 
or she is suspended, arrangements will made so that the suspension will not 
hurt the student's grade, he said.

"We're not going to take their grade from them," Dr. Fuller said.

Under the random drug-testing policy, a student with a confirmed positive 
test will be referred for substance-abuse counseling and be suspended from 
all extracurricular activities for 30 days, along with other consequences. 
A second offense would result in a suspension from all extracurricular 
activities for one calendar year.

Any positive results will remain on a student's record throughout his or 
her secondary school career. A student who tested positive in junior high 
would be slapped with the one-year suspension from all extracurricular 
activities if he or she tested positive again in high school.

In addition to band and choir, the policy applies to participants in 
student government, service clubs, athletics, performing groups, clubs or 
societies devoted to specific study areas, and leisure-oriented clubs.

The policy calls for testing of entire groups when feasible. That had been 
placed in the policy in response to concerns that the testing would 
unfairly single out students.

Julie Schmader, a mother of a Wylie High student, said she still opposes 
the testing of students because she does not believe that district 
officials have proved that there is real drug problem.

"They're blowing this way out of proportion," she said.
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MAP posted-by: Thunder