Pubdate: Wed, 26 Oct 2005
Source: Clarion-Ledger, The (MS)
Copyright: 2005 The Clarion-Ledger
Contact:  http://www.clarionledger.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/805
Author: Erin Puryear
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States)

SCHOOL DISTRICTS GET DRUG TEST FUNDING FOR 3 YEARS

BRANDON -- The county's two school districts and a nonprofit group
will split a $527,181 federal grant to fund the districts' random
drug-testing policies for the next three years.

District officials are still deciding how the money will be divided.
The districts will share about $104,000 for each of the next three
years, while DREAM Inc. in Pearl will receive a total of $213,000 to
oversee the program.

The Pearl and Rankin districts' drug-testing policies, approved in
April and May respectively, randomly test students in extracurricular
activities and those that signed up for voluntary testing.

The grant will relieve some of the financial burden on the districts
to administer the tests, which cost about $22 each.

"The money in the budget for the policy will now be used in other
areas," Rankin County district Assistant Superintendent Hugh Carr said.

Rankin County district officials estimated about $150,000 a year would
be needed to run the drug tests and to hire a part-time drug
counselor. Nearly 4,000 students are in the testing pool, and the
district says it tests about 10 percent of those each month.

Pearl schools Superintendent Stan Miller said securing the funding is
a great relief after the district received less funding than hoped
from the state this year.

"We were cautious about having this program and (were worried) that if
we did, we would have it on a limited basis," he said.

About 1,000 students are subject to testing in the Pearl schools, with
about 30 being tested each month. School officials estimated between
$5,000 and $10,000 would be needed to conduct the tests. Two rounds of
testing have been conducted in the Rankin schools, and one round in
the Pearl schools. All tests were negative, officials said.

"Obviously the need is there, and the community can support it," said
Kenneth Wheatley, a DREAM employee who prepared the grant
application.

The grant also sets up a 13-member advisory council to ensure the
drug-testing policies are working in accordance with the grant
program. Council members include DREAM Chief Executive Glenda Crump,
district superintendents, school principals, drug counselors and
parent-teacher organization members, Wheatley said.

Federal money was appropriated to fund random drug-testing policies in
schools nationwide, although the application process is very
competitive. Only 55 school districts nationwide received funding for
their policies.

"With less resources available, you've got to partner with people, and
we had to vision to partner with the schools to maximize resources,"
Crump said.

Wheatley said more than $100,000 will be available to the two school
districts each year to conduct testing.

The Rankin district will likely receive more money because of its
larger testing pool, Wheatley said.

Details of the grant will be discussed in the upcoming
weeks.

One hitch to the grant, Wheatley said, is that the money cannot be
used to conduct drug tests under reasonable suspicion, which both
school districts can conduct according to their policies.

"This money is for all completely random tests, and that's exactly
what (the school districts are)," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin