Pubdate: Sun, 10 May 2009
Source: Gwinnett Daily Post, The (GA)
Copyright: 2009 Post-Citizen Media Inc.
Contact:  http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2480
Note: Letters can run as long as 400 words.
Author: Heather Darenberg
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)

SCHOOL TO TEST FOR DRUGS

Wesleyan To Start Screening In Fall

NORCROSS - After two years of planning, Wesleyan School is ready to 
implement a drug-free campus initiative that includes the random drug 
testing of high school students and faculty members.

The private Christian school in Norcross will begin screening the 
students and teachers for drug use when classes resume for the 
2009-10 school year, said Marc Khedouri, dean of students.

"This is truly about helping kids," Khedouri said. "From our 
perspective, it gives our kids a really good reason to say no (to 
using drugs). ... It's an added measure of accountability to help 
them make better decisions."

Khedouri said the program was designed for two reasons: prevention 
and early intervention.

"We're not looking to punish students as much as we are to help them," he said.

Each week, some ninth-through 12th-grade students will be randomly 
selected for an expanded nine-panel drug test, Khedouri said. The 
Strategic Prevention Education Compliance (SPEC) Group will collect 
and test the samples.

Faculty members will also be tested because the school asks them to 
be role models in every area, Khedouri said.

If a student tests positive, what happens next will depend largely on 
the student's willingness to be forthright, Khedouri said.

Students at every school across the nation have substance abuse 
problems. Wesleyan's internal surveys indicate students' drug usage 
is low, Khedouri said.

"But how much is too much? Is 2 percent, 5 percent, 10 percent a 
problem?" he said.

Some independent schools in Georgia that have implemented random drug 
testing say the program is successful.

First Presbyterian Day School in Macon, which randomly drug tests 
middle and high school students, started its program in 2001, said 
Pat Rabun, dean of students. The school tests 15 students and three 
teachers twice a month. From 2001 to 2005, the school saw an average 
of three positive tests per year. Since 2006, none of the tests have 
indicated drug use.

Rabun said he overheard one student say that a friend declined to 
smoke marijuana one weekend because of the school's drug testing program.

Rabun said he's "not that naive" to believe none of the students have 
used drugs in the past few years. The school has about 600 middle and 
high school students, and only about one-third are drug tested each year.

"But if we have reached one kid, the program's successful," he said.

When the drug testing program was first implemented, Rabun said 
parents were suspicious and skeptical. So during the first year, 
participation in the program was voluntary.

"Parents have bought into it," Rabun said. "It's a great proactive 
way to partner with them to keep their kids drug free."

At Wesleyan School, officials held three town hall meetings to give 
parents the opportunity to ask questions and raise concerns, Khedouri said.

"I know it's not without controversy and not everyone agrees," he 
said, "but it's incumbent on all of us in the independent schools to 
take the lead and do things in the students' best interest."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom