Pubdate: Wed, 05 Dec 2007
Source: Georgetown News-Graphic (KY)
Copyright: 2007 Georgetown Newspapers, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.georgetownnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4591
Author: Jeff Kerr

NELSON TESTING A MODEL FOR SCOTT

When the Nelson County Board of Education decided to  implement a 
random drug-testing policy for its  students, it also included the 
school board in the pool  of potential subjects.

But Superintendent Dr. Janice O. Lantz had been subject  to drug 
tests for several years before the board  approved the policy.

"I have my CDL (commercial driver's license) and I'm a  bus driver," 
Lantz said. "I've been part of the  rotation for several years."

Nelson County is one of the counties Scott County is  studying as the 
Scott school district is preparing to  institute its drug-testing policy.

The Nelson experience, Lantz said, represented a group  effort 
between three different school systems.

"We met with the Bardstown independent schools and the  parochial 
schools and expressed concern about  drug-testing athletes," Lantz 
said. "Then we formed a  steering committee with the two public 
school superintendents, the head of the parochial school,  Bethlehem 
High School, the mayor, the judge-executive  and some other key players."

That steering committee, Lantz said, met and talked  about the 
program "for about a year."

"We went to other places and looked at their policies  and distilled 
them and drafted our own," Lantz said.  "Then all three school 
systems passed the same policy."

The policy was passed in 2003. Lantz said the mayor and  judge made 
some donations to get the program started,  and other funds came from 
the schools' budgets.

"Then," she added, "as luck would have it a grant came  along and we 
applied for it together and were the  recipient of a large amount of money."

The grant was one of eight pilot programs for student  drug testing 
from the United States Depart_ment of  Education and was for $284,203.

The Nelson model began by looking at testing  student-athletes but 
expanded into also testing  students in extracurricular activities 
and those who  held parking permits at the school.

"The first year we did high-school athletes," Lantz  said. "Then we 
added students in extracurricular  activities the second year. The 
third year we added  drivers and middle school students in 
extracurricular  activities as well as new employees."

Now in its fifth year the program randomly tests  students and employees.

"And it does include the school board and the  superintendent," Lantz 
said. "We had discussed the fact  that we needed to be included in 
the pool, and when we  tested them, we did them all, not randomly, 
because we  wanted to see what it felt like."

What the drug testing found in Nelson County, Lantz  said, was that 
drugs were a problem at all schools.

"We found that each school had at least one individual  that had 
issues," Lantz said.

Students testing positive re_ceived a 21-day removal  from their 
sport, their extracurricular activity or  their driver's privileges, she said.

"The students were not suspended from school," she  said. "This is 
intended to inform the parents of those  issues. And if we found an 
employee violation, we  handled it as a disciplinary measure."

The program, Lantz said, is showing results.

Nelson County is a participant in the Kentucky  Incentives for 
Prevention program, a survey taken every  two years in Ken_tucky 
schools that monitors drug use  by students.

Lantz said Nelson County's KIP results have shown that  "in every 
single area, in every single grade, drug use  has gone down except 
for tobacco."

But testing, she said, is not enough. Follow-up is  critical, as well.

"There has to be a counseling piece to the puzzle too,"  Lantz said.

The hardest part of the process, she said, is passing  the results on 
to the parent if a student tests  positive.

"The biggest piece in the puzzle is informing the  parent," she said. 
"That's when they are faced with the  reality that their child has an issue."

The testing, Lantz said, has helped focus the community  on drug use 
by students.

"I don't say we've solved the problem," she said. "We  have a drug 
problem like everyone else. But we have  made a dent in it, and we 
feel like it is money well  spent."
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart