Students returning to school next month look forward to new experiences: new status, new classes, new teachers, new activities. What also awaits many of them are new rules, and in some cases a new student random drug testing policy. Several school districts - Booneville and Prentiss, Itawamba and Tishomingo counties among them - are implementing the new policies for the 2006-07 academic year. Five other school districts in the region also have drug-testing policies for some or all their students. "Our students deserve a safe and secure environment to learn, and this policy is designed to ensure that," said Malcolm Kuykendall, Tishomingo County's newly appointed superintendent. [continues 719 words]
BOONEVILLE - The new fiscal year brought an end to the five-year DARE program in Prentiss County. When it became necessary to choose between patrol officers and supporting two DARE program officers, Sheriff Randy Tolar said he was forced to put the day-to-day services of the department ahead of the popular anti-drug education program. "We had a three-year grant to start the program, which required that the county continue to fund it an additional year," Tolar said. "When those four years were up, I kept the two DARE officers on an additional year, but when the department was over budget, the supervisors decided not to continue funding for the program." [continues 190 words]
