POLICY MANUAL OK'D WITHOUT DRUG TESTS

Two Rivers Administration Will Continue to Look

TWO RIVERS -- The Board of Education approved a new policy manual
Monday without the addition of a proposed policy that would've called
for drug testing Two Rivers Public Schools students.

District and Two Rivers High School administrators will continue to
look into the costs and data regarding random student drug testing,
and a policy could be implemented at a later date, District
Administrator Randy Fredrikson said.

The proposed policy was "not based on probable cause," Board
President John Webster said Nov. 26, when the issue first was
presented to the board. All students involved in extra-curricular
activities, as well as those who have parking permits, would have
been affected.

But while the action by the board may not have been reactive, the
Office of National Drug Control Policy reports more than half of all
high school students in the United States have used an illegal drug.

The U.S. Department of Education has, since 2003, awarded more than
$36.1 million in grants to support random student drug testing
programs in more than 400 schools nationwide, according to the ONDCP.

Individual drug tests could cost up to $60, Fredrikson said, which is
unaffordable for the district. Other tests were either deemed
"unreliable" or involved too many complications to approve at this time.

The Kimberly Area School District, De Pere School District and
Medford Area Public School District have drug testing policies in
place, and Fredrikson said he hopes to get detailed information on
how testing has impacted those schools.

"It really boils down to a combination of the philosophical and the
costs," Fredrikson said. "If it doesn't accomplish what we want, then
why go that direction?"

Student drug testing was one of three new policies proposed for the
new policy manual, which becomes effective Jan. 21 -- the start of
second semester.

The other two, which were added, involve staff military leave and
student volunteer/community service hours.

The military leave policy allows staff members to use paid leave to
supplement military income.

In the volunteer policy, students will be required to complete 20
hours of community service in order to graduate -- 10 of those hours
being fulfilled within the school district. This condition first will
be applied to next year's freshman class.