Pubdate: Sat, 10 May 2014
Source: Orlando Sentinel (FL)
Copyright: 2014 Orlando Sentinel
Contact:  http://www.orlandosentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/325
Note: Rarely prints out-of-state LTEs.
Author: Lauren Roth
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States)

LAKE HIGHLAND PREP TOUTS DRUG TESTING RESULTS

Since starting drug testing this fall, Lake Highland Preparatory 
School in Orlando has conducted nearly 1,700 tests and found nine 
violations, said school President Warren Hudson.

"We feel we have changed student behavior," Hudson said. The drug 
tests, he said, have "empowered students who want to avoid drugs with 
a perfect excuse."

The nine violations do not include students whose screens turned up 
perscription drugs that could be matched with valid prescriptions.

The school started testing its about 1,200 students in grades 7 to 12 
this fall in concert with a drug education program. In addition to a 
test of all seventh-to 12th-graders at the beginning of the year, 
students have been randomly chosen six times for tests during the 
year. The school takes hair samples that give a 90-day history of 
drug use for a slate of about 18 illegal drugs.

The nine positive tests were all for marijuana, Hudson said. Some of 
those students got clean, while others were expelled, he said, 
declining to provide a more specific breakdown.

Those tests do not include a group of girls caught smoking a hookah 
this past week on a field trip. The hookah only contained 
sweet-flavored water vapor, not tobacco, so the students did not 
violate the drug policy, Hudson said. However, the students were 
disciplined for using the hookah because it would not be permitted on 
campus, he said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom