Pubdate: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 Source: Chickasha Express-Star (OK) Copyright: 2007 The Chickasha Express-Star Contact: http://www.chickashanews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/806 NINNEKAH BOARD APPROVES DRUG TESTING POLICY The Ninnekah board of education has a new member. Jeff McConnell has stepped up to fill the board position that became open last month when Shane Fitzwater tendered his resignation. Board President Rusty Garrett said McConnell has had an interest in becoming a member of the board for several years. Superintendent Todd Bunch said the new member will fit nicely with the other personalities on the board and with the direction the school is headed. McConnell will fill the remainder of Fitzwater's term which will run out this coming February. At that time, the position will go back to the voters to decide who will sit on the board next. McConnell joined the board in time to help decide two new board policies concerning student safety. Monday night, the Board of Education adopted a student drug policy and a policy outlining school security drills. Principal David Pitts said the drug policy has come as the result of concerns expressed by students about fellow students taking a range of illegal drugs from marijuana to steroids. Pitts said every school has a drug problem even if they don't want to admit it, and that Ninnekah was no exception. The district modeled their new policy from policies at Alex, Lindsay and Tecumseh. It will require all students enrolled in school activities to pass a drug screening at the beginning of the year. Throughout the rest of the year, the district will perform random tests on the group of students. Pitts said the system is also set up to where a parent can request that their child be added to the list to be tested. If a student tests positive for illegal drug use, there is an appeals process. Following a final determination that the child has been using illegal drugs, the student must obtain drug counseling and will be suspended from all school activities for at least ten days. Pitts said the cost of testing the children will not be much greater than the loss of state revenue from one child being suspended for the remainder of the year, the punishment for catching drug use on school property. The principal said the new policy is not geared toward taking the child out of the classroom, rather it provides incentive for students to not take the drugs in the first place. "If you can catch a kid when they are 12,13 or 14 years old you have a better chance of fixing the problem than when they are 18, 19 or 20," McConnell said. The board voted to approve the new policy unanimously. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart