RECENT ARRESTS FUEL DRUG TESTING DEBATE IN HILLSBORO

HILLSBOROUGH -- A community debate about whether to implement random
drug testing of district students grew more intense Monday as school
board members discussed the recent arrests of several teenagers on
drug charges.

The board last month approved the first reading of a random student
drug-testing policy, 6-3, and is expected to take a final vote on it
Feb. 25. No additional action on the proposal occurred at Monday's
school board meeting by Courier News deadlines. The meeting was at
Auten Road Intermediate School.

The board's discussion gained steam as members discussed a 16-year-old
Hillsborough High School student who was recently arrested and charged
with possessing a quarter pound of marijuana, with intent to distribute.

Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne J. Forrest and Hillsborough Police
Chief Paul Kaminsky announced the arrest late last month, after a
two-month investigation by the prosecutor's office's Organized Crime
and Narcotics Task Force and township police. Officers seized the
marijuana as well as $1,788 in cash and drug-packaging materials,
Forrest had said. The juvenile has since been lodged at a juvenile
detention center.

Then on Feb. 6, five Hunterdon County teenagers were transported to
nearby hospitals following a serious motor vehicle accident at the
intersection of Dukes Parkway and Roycefield Road. While treating the
18-year-old driver at the scene, authorities found eight plastic bags
of suspected marijuana and 19 unidentified pills in the driver's pants
pocket, according to police. Police also said a small amount of
marijuana was found on the vehicle's floor. The five teenagers had
just attended a funeral Mass and burial of a 16-year-old Hunterdon
Central Regional High School student who reportedly died from a
drug-related incident in late January.

Board member Greg Gillette said he had read the student's obituary and
noted that the death occurred despite Hunterdon Central's random
drug-testing policy. Hillsborough's proposed policy would be modeled
on Hunterdon Central's, which randomly chooses for testing those
students participating in athletics, extracurricular activities and
school clubs, and those who drive to school. The students could be
selected more than once for testing.

If approved, Hillsborough's random drug-testing policy would be
introduced during the 2008-09 school year.

The school board's policy committee began discussing random student
drug testing about four years ago and revisited it again last year
after an online study by the board found that 70 percent of 800 study
participants favored random drug testing.

Board member Mark Rosenburg said he was very concerned about the
Hillsborough teenager's arrest, and suggested the board also consider
requiring district staff and faculty members to be randomly tested for
illegal drugs.

"I don't know how many teachers would, but I will," said Rosenburg,
who is not a teacher. "I will volunteer (to be tested)."

Policy Committee Chairman David Kanaby had estimated that randomly
drug-testing students would cost less than $9,000 or 0.01 percent of
the 2008-09 school budget.