Pubdate: Wed, 06 Nov 2002
Source: Winnipeg Sun (CN MB)
Copyright: 2002 Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact:  http://www.fyiwinnipeg.com/winsun.shtml
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/503
Author: Frank Landry

DIVISION'S DRUG TESTS PROBED

Ombudsman Looks At Privacy Issues

Manitoba's privacy watchdog is investigating to see whether a rural school 
division's landmark proposal to conduct random drug tests on student jocks 
complies with provincial laws.

Provincial ombudsman Barry Tuckett said yesterday his office has been in 
contact with the Garden Valley School Division and informed officials they 
are conducting the policy audit.

"I would love to know, and we will find out, whether their draft policy 
addresses the issue of who gets access (to test results), how long they are 
kept and when are they destroyed," provincial ombudsman Barry Tuckett told 
The Sun yesterday.

"These are legitimate questions that the school division should have asked 
themselves, and may have."

Draws Attention

If the proposal flies, Garden Valley Collegiate in Winkler would be the 
first high school in Canada to mandate random drug tests. The proposal from 
deep within Manitoba's Bible Belt has drawn attention from across the 
country and if allowed to proceed, could be precedent-setting.

Garden Valley vice-principal Dan Giesbrecht said the school will co-operate 
fully with the ombudsman and officials want to make sure the random drug 
tests comply with the law.

But Giesbrecht said he doesn't understand why the proposed policy has 
received so much media attention, particularly because U.S. schools have 
been conducting similar tests for years.

"We're not going to contravene something that's the law of the land," 
Giesbrecht said. "If ultimately it comes down and they say we can't do it 
or here's some things you can do and some things you can't do, we have to 
be open to that. We're not rednecks out here in that sense."

Carolyn Duhamel, executive director of the Manitoba Association of School 
Trustees, said other divisions are watching with interest as the case plays 
out. But there is no indication anyone else in Manitoba plans to follow in 
Garden Hill's lead.
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MAP posted-by: Beth