Pubdate: Mon, 07 Jan 2008 Source: Asbury Park Press (NJ) Copyright: 2008 Asbury Park Press Contact: http://www.app.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/26 Author: Pamela Sroka-Holzmann Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Test) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) DISTRICT POSTPONES VOTE ON STUDENT DRUG TESTING Hillsborough Board Seeks More Input Before Vote, Now Feb. 28 HILLSBOROUGH - A Web site survey about a proposed random student drug-testing policy for the school district drew more than 800 respondents. So Board of Education members were stunned when only about 20 members of the public attended a Jan. 3 board meeting where a vote on the measure was possible. Instead, the board decided to postpone the vote and continue to solicit public opinion at upcoming board meetings Jan. 28 and Feb. 8 at Auten Road Intermediate School. Several board members raised concerns about the plan, which would use a computer pool to randomly select from among students participating in athletics, extracurricular activities and school clubs and those who drive to school. The students would have a mouth swab or urine screening as part of the testing procedure, which is being modeled after a 10-year policy at Hunterdon Central Regional High School in Raritan Township. The students also can be selected more than once. A vote on the measure is expected Feb. 28, but the board wants to make sure it hears from as many members of the public as possible before a final decision is made. "We need to communicate with the public. This is a very important issue, and I can't imagine they (members of the public) don't care about this," board member John Donnadio said. "I think we need to make an extra effort to get people to come." If approved, the random drug-testing procedure would be introduced during the 2008-09 school year. Board member David Kanaby, chairman of the board's policy committee, estimated the cost of the random student drug-testing program to be less than $9,000, or 0.01 percent of the total cost of the 2008-09 school budget. Kanaby said the policy committee began discussing random student drug testing about four years ago, but the discussion was revisited last year after an online board study found that 70 percent of 800 study participants favored random drug testing. Superintendent Edward J. Forsthoffer III said Friday that if the measure is approved, the district would seek federal funding to implement the program. On Dec. 18, the U.S. Department of Education announced the availability of $12.75 million in discretionary grants to fund student drug-testing programs. However, the application deadline is March 21, prompting school officials to put their feet on the accelerator to make a decision on the proposal. Some board members have been opposed to this, including Donnadio, who favors applying for the funding next year and spending more time discussing the plan. Included in the estimated nearly $9,000 cost will be new state regulations on the measure. In July, a hearing in Trenton among state Board of Education members, school principals and the Drug-Free Schools Coalition focused on proposed new rules by the state Board of Education that would require state-licensed clinical labs to collect and test urine samples for a variety of recreational drugs. The state lab tests, which could run up to $60 each, are five times the $12 swab tests administered by school nurses. During Thursday's overview of the plan, Kanaby told the public, "Deciding to random drug test is not about how bad our drug problem is, but about how much we are willing to do to keep our students from using drugs." But at least three board members out of nine have said publicly they are against the policy because of privacy reasons, as well as stating the policy violates student constitutional rights under unlawful searches and seizures. Other board members want more information and time to review what is being proposed. During a 2004-05 survey asking Hillsborough High School students if they ever have taken drugs, fewer than 1 percent admitted to using heroin. That figure increased slightly by the time the freshman students reached the senior level, Kanaby said. Kanaby said about 64 percent of students in ninth grade, 54 percent in 10th grade, 52 percent in 11th grade and 47 percent in 12th grade answered the survey because permission slips had to be signed by parents. That equals about 55 percent of the average student body -- about 2,300 students then at the high school. Alyssa Fedak, 17, senior class treasurer at the high school, who took the survey during her freshman year, urged Board of Education members Thursday to pass the policy. "Those numbers really do reflect what's going on," Fedak said about the survey. "Peer pressure is a big deal. They teach you the DARE program in fifth grade, but it's not enough by the time you get to high school. If you (Board of Education) were to enforce something like this, the numbers in Hillsborough will go down." Heroin use also had been referenced by former township Police Chief Robert K. Gazaway, on May 9, 2006, during a discussion by the Township Committee about funding a second high-school drug and alcohol counselor in the 2006 school budget, after rejection of the budget by voters. The committee decided to fund the second drug counseling position at an annual salary of $62,935. Gazaway had told the committee in 2006 that drug use was on the rise in Hillsborough. - --- MAP posted-by: Steve Heath