Pubdate: Sat, 13 May 2006 Source: Branson Daily News (MO) Copyright: 2006 The Branson Daily News Contact: http://www.bransondailynews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4031 Author: Brandon Cone, BDN Staff Writer Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing) SCHOOL BOARD OKS DRUG TESTING The Branson School Board Approved A Drug Testing Policy Thursday That Will Affect Hundreds Of Students. The policy, which is planned to begin at the beginning of the 2006-07 school year, is random and will apply to students participating in extracurricular activities. Students who drive to school will also be considered part of the random-drug-testing pool. School Communications Director Brenda Romine said the majority of children 16 and above do drive to school. "Those names of students who park cars on campus will be put into the pool along with those in extracurricular activities and could randomly be drawn," Romine said. Superintendent Doug Hayter said the policy was not adopted to punish students, but to encourage them not to use drugs. "We really want to use this as a deterrent," Hayter said. "We're not doing this just to catch children doing something wrong. We're hoping that this will make them think twice about using drugs." The policy will go into effect next year pending approval from the Missouri School Board Association and school district attorneys. The board initiated the idea of random drug-testing in October. A task force of students, teachers and administrators from the intermediate, junior high and high schools met late last year to make the drug-testing recommendations. A representative of the company that will conduct the testing, Employee Screening Services, said employees strive to respect students' confidentiality and privacy "in a non-humiliating way." "When a student comes in to be tested, we don't know their name," Operations Manager John Throckmorton said. "We only know them by an ID number. We try to casually speak to kids before the test and put them at ease. "We treat them very similarly to how we do employees when we test them. We pat them down to make sure they're not carrying anything in with them, but we don't stand in there and watch them or anything." The company also conducts drug testing for the school district's bus drivers, as well as students and employees from other schools in southwest Missouri. School board members have volunteered to be the first to take part in the drug testing. "We have had a lot of support from the community and I feel like this is a policy that will be a positive impact in our school system," Hayter said. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom