Pubdate: Tue, 31 Jan 2012 Source: Wausau Daily Herald (WI) Copyright: 2012 Wausau Daily Herald Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/zFWcSrzy Website: http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1321 SCHOOLS SHOULD TEST FOR DRUGS BEFORE THEY HIRE The Antigo and Merrill school districts have been rocked in recent weeks by drug charges against several employees, but the shockwaves from the case extend beyond those communities. And a conversation about drug policies in schools has followed the charges -- a hard but necessary conversation. Reporting last week by the Wausau Daily Herald revealed that among 14 local school districts surveyed, only three (D.C. Everest Area, Medford and Stevens Point) ask prospective employees to take a drug test. None do drug testing after employees are hired. That's surprising, given the commonness of pre-employment drug testing in the private sector -- and in the interest of disclosure, this includes the Daily Herald. Local school districts should institute pre-employment drug tests. Some have suggested that school districts should go further and institute a regime of random drug tests for teachers. That seems to us an overreaction. It would create an additional expense to the district, and more than that it reeks of guilty-until-proven-innocent in a way that is certain to be unfair to the great majority of teachers. We should not leap to the conclusion that, because of this high-profile case, those charged are typical of their profession. One-time, pre-employment drug screens have obvious limits, and it's not clear that they would have prevented the alleged wrongdoing in Antigo and Merrill, where those accused were veteran teachers. But pre-employment screens could help to keep those who are true addicts from employment in schools. More than that, they would send a message that school districts take the matter seriously. That alone would help local districts to build or rebuild confidence in the soundness of their own policies. Some in the community might believe that because the primary drug involved in these cases was marijuana and not something harder, the crimes are not such an outrage. But think of the way these arrests have undermined the credibility of every teacher at the affected schools to promote anti-drug messages to their students. Fairly or unfairly, the same probably extends even to teachers in other high schools in the area. Think of the teenager or young adult who truly is struggling with an addiction to marijuana or another drug -- harmful, painful addictions are not the sole province of older adults -- and the way these arrests illustrate to them that even authority figures in their own lives apparently do not follow the law. It is serious and needs to be taken seriously. To any teen who is reading this, understand that the message is not that the rules don't matter. It is that many people of all ages struggle to live within the law, and that illegal drug use can and does destroy lives at all levels of society. No one should take these arrests as a sign that abuse is widespread. There is no evidence that it is. But school districts should examine their own drug prevention policies, including but not limited to pre-employment drug screening policies, and make reforms where they are necessary. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.