Pubdate: Sun, 20 Jul 2003
Source: Daily News (KY)
Copyright: 2003 News Publishing LLC
Contact:  http://www.bgdailynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1218
Author: Taylor Loyal
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)

EDMONSON COUNTY: STUDENT DRUG-TESTING POLICY MAY GET VOTE

The Edmonson County School Board is scheduled to discuss - and is
likely vote on - a new student drug-testing policy Monday.

If the policy passes, it would be one of the strictest in the area.
Random drug tests would be given to students involved in
extracurricular activities and students who drive to school.

The school board believes the tests would serve as an incentive to
keep students who want to join sports teams, Future Farmers of America
or other clubs off drugs.

A public meeting in the superintendent's office will begin at 5:30
p.m. with the board meeting following at 6:30 p.m.

"I've not really had any complaints on it," board chairman Tommy
Ritter said. "The biggest thing is that people would like to see all
the kids tested."

While evidence exists in many schools that drugs are a problem, it is
debatable as to whether drug use should be the schools' burden to bear.

"In five years, we've probably had 85 or 100 expulsion hearings. Most
of them are drug-or alcohol-related," Ritter said. "We can't do very
much, but this is as much as we can do to help out."

In Bowling Green and Warren County, cocaine and inhalant use is on the
rise, while alcohol use is decreasing, according to recent statistics.

Local students have reported that most drugs are widely available to
them. Almost half of local high school seniors said it was easy to get
cocaine, according to a 2002 survey given by the Bowling Green and
Warren County school districts.

Almost 70 percent of them said it was easy to get marijuana and almost
80 percent said they could get beer.

But according to the study, the students who use drugs most often do
it on the weekends, which leads some local school board members to
believe that the issue should be left up to parents.

The Bowling Green School Board has discussed drug testing in the past,
chairwoman Deborah Williams said.

"I think we talked about it not being our role," she
said.

While the Bowling Green Independent School District has no
drug-testing policy in place, the district does take a strong stance
against drug use or sales on school grounds, Williams said.

The board handles disciplinary hearings on drugs on a case-by-case
basis. Punishment ranges from a referral to an alternative school
program to expulsion.

"If they exemplify a threat to themselves or others, we've got to deal
with that one more harshly than something that is a drug possession,"
Williams said.

She added that she's seen a rise in the number of cases involving
over-the-counter medications, which can be difficult to handle because
those drugs are not inherently illegal.

At Warren County Public Schools, athletes are tested for drugs on a
volunteer basis.

More than 90 percent of Warren County athletes participate, according
to figures from the school district. Last year, there were no positive
drug tests.

Ritter, who said the Edmonson board began discussing drug testing
after Warren County began doing it, said that if the drug tests are
implemented, they will continue based upon how effective they are.

"It's like any policy," he said. "We may start it this year and we may
realize in a year that we don't need it."
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin