SCHOOL BOARD CLOSE TO OK ON DRUG TESTING FOR TEACHERS

Prospective teachers would be drug tested. Board member favors random
testing for existing teachers.

BETHLEHEM - The Bethlehem Area School Board is one vote away from
requiring a pre-employment drug test for teachers, and random testing
for contracted teachers could be next if one board member gets her
way.

"In the back of my mind, I'd like to see us go to that at some point,"
board Vice President Judith Dexter said Tuesday.

At Monday's human resources committee meeting, she asked board
solicitor Don Spry to research potential legal barriers to such a policy.

Bethlehem Education Association President Craig Zieger said the
teachers union is opposed to random testing.

"We certainly view it as a violation of our rights, and any unilateral
change in the working conditions certainly would be against the
contract," he said Tuesday.

"They can do pre-employment testing. It's a totally different story
for existing staff."

The board explored a random drug-testing policy last year after
ex-Nitschmann Middle School Principal John Acerra's drug arrest but
abandoned it when then-solicitor Ellis Katz warned it would violate
employees' constitutional rights.

Dexter said she asked Spry to look at the matter again because
"lawyers know different things about different areas."

Spry's firm -- Bethlehem-based King, Spry, Herman, Freund and Faul --
replaced Katz's firm last month.

Under the proposed pre-employment drug-testing policy, the board would
not hire applicants who tested positive.

The policy includes an exception for applicants who test positive for
drugs prescribed to them by licensed physicians. Also, prospective
teachers who claim a false positive would be permitted to take the
test a second time.

School directors have said they eventually may expand the policy to
cover applicants seeking nonteaching positions.

When asked at Monday's meeting whether the policy could withstand
legal scrutiny, Spry said, "It looks fine to me."