BOARD PASSES DRUG-TESTING POLICY

HILLSBOROUGH - Local high school students involved in after-school
activities, sports or with parking permits -- will be subjected to
random student drug testing under a measure approved by the
township's Board of Education.

Despite pleas from several parents and students during the past few
months urging school board members to vote against the plan, the
Board approved the second and final reading of the random student
drug policy in a 5-3 vote Monday evening. The program, which is
expected to cost $9,000, will be implemented during the 2008-09
school year.

Board members have said the district can apply for a portion of an
estimated $12.5 million in federal funds to help offset the cost of
randomly drug testing students.

The testing -- modeled after the plan at Hunterdon Central Regional
High School in Raritan Township -- will randomly select via computer
from students participating in athletics, extracurricular activities,
school clubs and those who drive to school. Chosen students will
have a mouth swab or urine screening as part of the testing
procedure. Students also can be selected more than once.

The board's policy committee had began discussing random student drug
testing about four years ago and revisited the issue last year after
an online board study found that 70 percent of 800 study participants
favored random drug testing, said board member David Kanaby, who
also chairs the policy committee.

Board members Greg Gillette, Frank Blandino and John Donnadio, who
had opposed the measure, voted against the policy Monday evening.
Board member Marc Rosenberg did not attend the meeting because of a
work obligation.

Donnadio was unsuccessful in his attempts to persuade board members
to delay the vote until Rosenberg returned.

"We have students -- good students -- that participate in activities,
and we're creating this hostile school environment," Donnadio said.
"I don't think this is right for the community."

Blandino, also the township's attorney, said, "I'm just asking you
guys to really think hard about this." Gillette compared the anxiety
of adults going to the doctor for blood pressure screenings with
students having anxiety about being randomly drug tested.

"I think it's going to change the culture for the high school,"
Gillette said. "I'm not sure it's for the better."

Hillsborough Superintendent Edward Forsthoffer III, also made his
opinion known about the plan for the first time since discussions
began earlier this year.

Forsthoffer said he has a son involved in school athletics and
activities who doesn't do drugs, but the superintendent fears student
peer pressure.

"I worry about somebody who intends to follow the crowd," Forsthoffer
said. "I would worry. I'd like to think when push came to shove, he
can say "I am on the football team so I'm not going to do it.' That's
how I feel now. ... I'd recommend this policy."

Board members David Lin, Steve Paget and Wolf Schneider also
supported the plan.

Lin called the plan a "good thing" and said he believed random
student drug testing would benefit the district he was elected to
serve two years ago.

Paget noted that Hunterdon Central has a similar "school demographic"
to Hillsborough's, and said that district "definitely saw a positive
result when they implemented the test."

"We need to put some obstacles in place," Schneider said. "We have
some in place already, but we need more because, obviously, kids have
found a way to get around it. My attitude is, let's put another
obstacle in the way to make it tougher."

Several parents and students voiced concerns before Monday's vote.

Steven Feldman, 18, a senior at Hillsborough High School, said he
feared some students would try drugs on Friday evenings if the plan
was implemented because the drugs could be "out of their system" by
Monday.

"I really think the board needs to look at that," he said.

"I really have to scratch my head over this drug-testing policy,"
said parent Paul Kouroupas. "Is this to prepare students for the real
world? I really don't think so. People are not subject to random
student drug testing in the work world."

But Ed Hornich, a parent of two, said he'll take any help he can get
from the board to keep his children away from drug use.

"I hope you will pass this, and I look forward to it in the future,"
he said about the policy.