SPARE THE ROD: GET THE VIAL - RANDOM VOLUNTARY DRUG-TESTING FOR A
MIDDLE SCHOOL IS EYED

HANOVER TWP. - Reading, writing and - drug testing ?

That may the curricula for some Memorial Junior School students.

Hanover Township School District Superintendent Scott Pepper said on
Friday, Jan. 26 that the Board of Education is considering random
voluntary testing.

The move, he said, follows the recommendation made last October by
Health Officer George VanOrden and the township Board of Health. If
approved, the program would be based on one implemented by the
Pequannock Township School District in Bergen County and serve as yet
another tool in the war against youngsters' drug use.

But Pepper cautioned that district officials were still some way off
from instituting any policy.

"We're at the very early stage of this," he said, adding it might be
necessary to obtain input from all residents before a decision was reached.

"It's an important issue to the community," he said.

The move to enforce a drug prevention policy at the middle school
comes in wake of "Operation Painkiller," in which 59 people mostly
Hanover Park Regional High School students and recent graduates were
arrested last July.

Two township residents had also died of heroin overdoses last summer.

The high school already has a state-mandated mandatory drug testing
program for students who participate in sports and extra-curricular
activities, or who are suspected of being under the influence.

Memorial Junior is a grades 6-8 school whose enrollment is now 580.

'Reduce Dependence'

According to a Board of Health resolution approved on Oct. 11, random
drug testing at Memorial Junior School is necessary "to reduce the
growing dependence and use of drugs and alcohol in our society."

Random testing, said the resolution, "may provide schools and
families with additional deterrent to drug and alcohol use, thereby
countering peer pressure which may encourage indulgence."

The testing program would "include follow-up therapeutic measures for
students who might test positive, with a focus on drug education and
rehabilitation."

The resolution said that, under state law, a school board may
authorize its chief administrator "to implement and conduct a program
of random drug testing of pupils in grades 9 to 12 who participate in
athletics, co-curricular activities, pupils granted parking permits
for on-campus parking, pupils who have violated the district
substance abuse policy and pupils in grade 6 to 12 who voluntarily
elect to participate in the program with parental consent."

According to the resolution, "by agreeing to participate in a
voluntary and mandatory random drug and alcohol testing program, the
student is making a commitment to live drug and alcohol free."