MATH-SCIENCE SCHOOL TO DRUG-TEST ALL STUDENTS

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) -- The Alabama School of Mathematics and Science
apparently will become the first public school in the state with mandatory
drug testing for all its students this fall.

The Mobile school also plans to test faculty on a voluntary basis. Hair
samples will be used for the testing.

Some public schools in other parts of the state already require drug tests
from student athletes. Department of Education officials were unaware of
any other public school requiring the hair samples from every student, however.

The math-science school has about 300 students who live in dormitories and
attend the 10th-12th grades. The school's board earlier this year approved
the tests by California-based Psychemedics Corp. The $22,500 contract for
the testing goes before the Legislature's Contract Review Committee on
Thursday.

"We don't anticipate any problem with it," school finance director Beverly
M. Cooper said Monday. "We expect we will be the first public school in the
state that will be testing all students."

She said the Mobile school's situation differs from other public schools
because the students are recruited statewide and live as well as study on
campus.

"We're like their parents," she said.

Under the contract, the state would pay one-third of the total, with the
remainder coming from the school's foundation, Cooper said.

It's a two-year contract, effective Aug. 1. Psychemedics will provide
training on collecting the hair samples. The test, costing $45 per sample,
screens for cocaine, opiates, phencyclidine, marijuana and methamphetamine.

The American Civil Liberties Union has opposed mandatory student drug
testing policies on grounds that it is a violation of the Fourth Amendment,
which forbids unreasonable searches and seizures. Courts, however, have
upheld the practice.

Psychemedics officials say the results are reported in a confidential
manner and testing of minors may require parental approval. The school has
sent letters to parents explaining the purpose of the testing.

"When we were recruiting this year we made it known that was our plan. I
don't know of any parents who said no," school spokeswoman Mary Lee Conwell
said.

All surplus hair from samples testing positive will be stored and retained
by Psychemedics for a minimum of five years, the contract says.

Last year, the Roman Catholic McGill-Toolen High School in Mobile began
drug-testing of all its 1,100 students, also using Psychemedics, and plans
to continue the program this year.

Conwell said mandatory drug testing was approved for the Alabama School of
Mathematics and Science after meetings that included executive directors of
some area private schools, including McGill-Toolen.

Conwell said the testing is an "easy out for students to not take drugs,"
because they know they will be tested. All students will be tested this
fall, and then new arrivals will be tested next year. Random testing also
will be used.

On the Net:

www.drugtestwithhair.com

www.psychemedics.com