Pubdate: Wed, 30 Jan 2002
Source: Daily Independent, The (KY)
Copyright: 2002 The Daily Independent, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.dailyindependent.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1573
Author: Kirsten Stanley

DRUG-TESTING ISSUE: NO ONE ACCUSED, CHAIRWOMAN SAYS LAWRENCE BOARD IN 
DATA-GATHERING STAGE

LOUISA - As the Lawrence County Board of Education considers testing 
students and teachers for drugs, the board's chairwoman says she is not 
ready to put a policy in the books.

Barbara Robinson said a decision on drug testing is ``far from being made."

``Right now we are discussing it, but it is nothing more than that," she said.

Board members spent part of last week's meeting discussing plans to test 
students and teachers who are suspected of drug use and/or caught with 
drugs or under the influence of them.

Board members, in interviews following the meeting, said they were not 
accusing anyone of using drugs.

``This has just been blown out of proportion," Robinson said this week.

The drug-testing issue first cropped up in December when the board asked 
its attorney, Nelson Sparks, to research the issue.

During his presentation to the board last week, Sparks said the school can 
perform a drug test on anyone about whom it has credible evidence of drug use.

According to Robinson, much more information needs to be gathered before a 
decision can be reached. Among other things, the board will look at similar 
plans in other districts.

``We have no firm plans right now," she said. ``We are just getting 
information."

No school system in Kentucky mandates drug testing for teachers. Numerous 
schools in the state, including Boyd County and Russell, require athletes 
or students who drive to school to be tested.

There is no need to test teachers for drugs, said Bill Hammond, president 
of the Lawrence County Organization of Teachers.

He said many teachers believe school board members were accusing them of 
using drugs.

``Everybody was pretty upset about it," said Hammond, a science teacher at 
Louisa Middle School. ``I think it's a slap at your character."

Lawrence County teachers contacted by The Daily Independent did not want to 
comment for this story.

Robinson said she and the other board members do not suspect teachers of 
drug use.

Rodney Hamilton, a school board member, said a comment he made at last 
week's meeting was misinterpreted. He said he believes that, if the board 
opts to test students for drug use, that ``it would set a good example if 
teachers could be tested, too."

Sparks and the board will continue to research drug-testing. Robinson said 
she does not know when a decision would be made.
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