Pubdate: Mon, 2 Nov 2009
Source: Sun Journal, The (NC)
Copyright: 2009 Freedom Communications, Inc.
Contact: http://www.newbernsj.com/sections/contact/
Website: http://www.newbernsunjournal.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1733
Author: Laura Oleniacz
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)

PAMLICO SCHOOL BOARD LOOKS AT DRUG TESTING

BAYBORO -- The Pamlico County Board of Education will consider at a 
meeting tonight whether to hire an Ohio-based drug testing company to 
do the random drug testing of students who participate in 
extracurricular activities.

Superintendent James Coon said that the Pamlico County Health 
Department does not have the resources to continue testing the 
system's students, so the board will consider a contract with Sport 
Safe Testing Service Inc.

The company was selected by school staff from an initial list of six 
companies. Sport Safe's services are estimated to cost between $5,000 
and $7,000, and Coon said that includes several services such as 
supplies, shipping the samples to a laboratory and calling parents. 
The board did not initially budget the expense, but he said there is 
money available for it, he said.

The board had discussed at its September meeting revising the random 
drug testing policy to give the testing responsibility to school 
nursing staff, but the board's attorney counseled against that. The 
last random drug testing in the system was done in September of 2008, 
Coon said.

Having an outside agency conduct the testing makes it more random, he 
said, and could cut down on the possibility of accusations that the 
system is targeting certain students.

  "The further you get away from your district employees and the 
people who know the kids, the least claim you can make that there's 
any collusion to falsely accuse them," Coon said. "They don't know 
the kids, they become less entangled in community, and they don't 
know who the child is."

At its September meeting, the board also considered changes to the 
policy language to make sure the wording was clear as to which groups 
of students would be tested, which includes students in athletics as 
well as cheerleaders, students in the driver education program, and 
those who drive to school and park on campus.

Coon said the board could possibly discuss the revisions at its 
December meeting.

He said the board is looking at the policy since there are issues 
that need to be worked out in its application.

"When I came in January, there were a lot of things that had to be 
worked out in the application of the policy," he said in a previous 
phone interview with the Sun Journal.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake