Pubdate: Wed, 03 May 2006
Source: Times-Journal, The (Fort Payne, AL)
Copyright: 2006 Times-Journal
Contact:  http://www.times-journal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1883
Author: Mark Harrison, The Times-Journal
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States)

ONLY ONE SHOWS AT PUBLIC DRUG MEETING

Everyone who showed up Monday for a public meeting  about student 
drug testing in the DeKalb County School  System supported the measure.

That would be Teresa Hatfield, of Ider. She was only  person, other 
than school officials, to attend Monday's  forum at Valley Head High 
School. The meeting was the  first of three scheduled public meetings 
to discuss  proposed student drug testing in the county system.

Another was scheduled for Tuesday night in Rainsville  and a third 
will be Monday at Crossville High School.

Hatfield, who said she has two daughters who go to  school at Ider, 
said she favors the idea of student  drug testing.

"I just wanted to say that I'm for it," Hatfield said.  She said she 
believes testing could help students say  no to drug use in social 
situations away from school.

The proposed testing program, patterned after one  recently adopted 
for use in the Fort Payne City School  System, includes only students 
who are involved in  competitive extracurricular activities or who 
drive to  school, setting graduated penalties for violation that 
include at least temporary suspensions from those  activities.

The proposed program would use a random, computerized  selection 
method to pick which students are tested on a  particular day.

The program does not refer violators to law enforcement  officials, 
but rather provides for counseling  opportunities.

DeKalb Superintendent Charles Warren praised Hatfield  for attending 
the meeting and said the remaining forums  would continue, as planned.

"Whether we have five or 55 attend the meetings, we're  happy to have 
the input of parents on this matter,"  Warren said. "The whole idea 
is to have a public forum  where parents can come and ask questions 
and discuss  any concerns they might have."

In addition to Warren, school board member Harold Bobo,  several 
members of the policy subcommittee on student  drug testing, and Liz 
Wear, director of the Partnership  for a Drug-Free DeKalb, were present.

Wear secured a $500,000, three-year grant to establish  student dru- 
testing programs in both the city and  county school systems. The 
city will begin mandatory  testing June 3. The grant calls for 
testing students,  in seventh through 12th grade, involved in 
competitive interscholastic extracurricular activities.

The program can legally test up to 49 percent of the  student 
population, Wear said. She said the U.S.  Supreme Court has ruled 
that performing drug tests on  an entire student population has been 
ruled unconstitutional. That is why the program involves only  those 
students involved in voluntary extracurricular  activities, to 
include driving to school and parking on  campus.

"I think this will take a lot of peer pressure off the  kids," Bobo 
said. "It might keep one of them from doing  something one time, but 
if you can do that, then you're  ahead of the game."

Warren agreed. "Prevention, not punishment, is the  ultimate goal," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom