Pubdate: Thu, 22 Jan 2004
Source: Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
Copyright: 2004 Sun-Sentinel Company
Contact:  http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/159
Author: Jamie Malernee, Education Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States)

SCHOOL OF THOUGHT ON SCREENING IDEA: LEAVE IT TO THE PARENTS

The president may have proposed an additional $23 million for student
drug testing, but school officials and some students in Palm Beach and
Broward counties are saying, No thank you.

Neither district has a policy of testing its students.

"It's just our philosophy that kids come to school to be educated, not
to be interrogated [and asked] to pee in a bottle," said Joe Melita,
head of special investigations for Broward schools.

Although the Supreme Court has upheld administrators' right to
randomly test students involved in school activities, Katie
Stoneburner, a freshman at South Plantation High, considers it an
"invasion of privacy."

"Kids should have rights, too," she said. "[Students] shouldn't come
to school high, but it's not the school's business. They should call
the parents and let the parents decide."

In fact, that's exactly what happens in many South Florida cases. If
students are thought to be under the influence but there is no
evidence of drugs on them, Melita said, the principal would call the
parents and "strongly recommend they take them to a doctor or hospital
to be tested." Administrators can also enroll students in a drug
treatment program, but they do not need the positive results of a drug
test to do so.

If officials think a student has brought drugs on campus, they search
the student and have him or her expelled and arrested if drugs are
found.

Parent Barbara McIntyre, whose son is a junior at Atlantic High in
Delray Beach, also said she would consider a drug test a violation of
her child's privacy. But her son, Danny, doesn't necessarily agree.

"Occasionally they should because it creates a safer environment," he
said.

Capt. Leonard Mitchell with Palm Beach County school police said drug
tests don't address the root of the nation's drug problem:

"It may sound good in a speech ... , but is that going to change
things all of a sudden? Let's be realistic. We have to change the
entire culture."
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin