CCPS WILL NOT TEST FOR DRUGS

The Culpeper County Public School's administration committee
recommended that the School Board not move forward with a proposed
drug policy, implementing random drug tests to all employees.

"We discussed it at the committee level and decided against it," said
Rusty Jenkins during Monday's work session citing financial and legal
ramifications.

And without any discussion and no action from the board, that work
session item ended there.

Jenkins said the idea came from a Culpeper constituent.

Concerned about the well being of CCPS students, the constituent
suggested that all 1,063 school employees receive random drug testing
following news of a former teacher that was arrested on felony drug
charges last summer.

The concerned parent, who asked not to be identified, said he called
his Salem District representative, Jennifer McCauley, last year
informing her about his fears after learning about former Culpeper
County High School physical education teacher Frank 'Chip' Rea's arrest.

Rea, then 32, was charged with cocaine possession and marijuana
possession with the intent to distribute last June at his Sumerduck
home in Fauquier.

When the concerned voter's ideas fell on deaf ears, he said he called
other administrators to no avail.

Several months later, that parent said he was asked to submit his
concerns in writing.

And that's just what he did during the administration committee
meeting in April.

He requested that the School Board and all of its employees receive
random drug testing.

Under Virginia law, bus drivers are the only CCPS employees required
to be tested.

It costs $25 for an in-house test.

Since Rea's conviction in January, another CCPS employee faces
similar felony drug charges.

Last month, Michele Auville, a first-grade teacher at Emerald Hill
Elementary School, was arrested for possession of a controlled substance.

On May 31, Culpeper County sheriff's deputies pulled over a vehicle
in which she was riding because it was "being operated in a
suspicious manner," according to court records.

When Auville, 35, stepped out of the car around 5:15 a.m., a smoking
device with crack residue in it was found in her vicinity, according
to CCSO spokesman Sgt. Jim Fox.

Auville submitted her resignation to CCPS administrators on June 2.

The School Board accepted her resignation during its special meeting
held on June 10.

She had worked for the school system for nine years.

Auville is due to appear in Culpeper County General District Court on
July 17 at 9:30 a.m.

Rea submitted his resignation to CCPS school officials last fall and
they accepted it shortly thereafter.

In January, Fauquier Circuit Court Judge Herman A. Whisenant Jr.
sentenced Rea to a three-month jail sentence. Rea has served his jail
term. He had been with the school system for one year.

In other action:

In other action, the board voted unanimously to approve its financial
closeout for its fiscal year 2008 operating budget - which ends June 30.

The board also agreed to give all of its 12-month employees July 3 off.