Pubdate: Tue, 11 Dec 2007
Source: Herald Times Reporter (Manitowoc, WI)
Copyright: 2007 Herald Times Reporter
Contact: http://www.htrnews.com/contact/forms/editor_letter.shtml
Website: http://www.htrnews.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1293
Author: Helen Clarke
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)

POLICY MANUAL OK'D WITHOUT DRUG TESTS

Two Rivers Administration Will Continue to Look

TWO RIVERS -- The Board of Education approved a new policy manual 
Monday without the addition of a proposed policy that would've called 
for drug testing Two Rivers Public Schools students.

District and Two Rivers High School administrators will continue to 
look into the costs and data regarding random student drug testing, 
and a policy could be implemented at a later date, District 
Administrator Randy Fredrikson said.

The proposed policy was "not based on probable cause," Board 
President John Webster said Nov. 26, when the issue first was 
presented to the board. All students involved in extra-curricular 
activities, as well as those who have parking permits, would have 
been affected.

But while the action by the board may not have been reactive, the 
Office of National Drug Control Policy reports more than half of all 
high school students in the United States have used an illegal drug.

The U.S. Department of Education has, since 2003, awarded more than 
$36.1 million in grants to support random student drug testing 
programs in more than 400 schools nationwide, according to the ONDCP.

Individual drug tests could cost up to $60, Fredrikson said, which is 
unaffordable for the district. Other tests were either deemed 
"unreliable" or involved too many complications to approve at this time.

The Kimberly Area School District, De Pere School District and 
Medford Area Public School District have drug testing policies in 
place, and Fredrikson said he hopes to get detailed information on 
how testing has impacted those schools.

"It really boils down to a combination of the philosophical and the 
costs," Fredrikson said. "If it doesn't accomplish what we want, then 
why go that direction?"

Student drug testing was one of three new policies proposed for the 
new policy manual, which becomes effective Jan. 21 -- the start of 
second semester.

The other two, which were added, involve staff military leave and 
student volunteer/community service hours.

The military leave policy allows staff members to use paid leave to 
supplement military income.

In the volunteer policy, students will be required to complete 20 
hours of community service in order to graduate -- 10 of those hours 
being fulfilled within the school district. This condition first will 
be applied to next year's freshman class. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake