STATE'S TEACHERS EXEMPT FROM DRUG TESTS

BAY MINETTE -- While thousands of Alabama public school students are
tested for everything from alcohol to cocaine, there is no such
testing program for teachers.

Only bus drivers in Baldwin and Mobile counties, along with the 129
public school systems in Alabama, are required to submit to random
drug tests, according to local and state school officials.

Schools may require prospective employees to be drug-tested during
the hiring process, but no school system has this requirement of new
teachers, said Brooke Thorington, a state education department
spokeswoman.

Instead, the state Department of Education conducts criminal
background checks on "any employee that has unsupervised access to
students," including teachers, Thorington said. The background check
is intended to reveal any drug-related offense.

While teachers are not required to submit to drug testing, the
Baldwin County school system launched its student drug testing
program in February 2006 at Gulf Shores Middle and High schools. The
testing will expand to the county's other six high schools when
classes resume Monday, and then to all middle schools in January
2008.

In Baldwin County, some teachers have suggested that the school
system launch a voluntary drug testing program, schools spokesman
Terry Wilhite said. Such a plan may not be legal, he added.

Schools Superintendent Faron Hollinger "is very much in favor of drug
testing for teachers because he has had an overwhelming response from
faculty members who say that they believe in drug-free campuses and
would like to be part of that message," Wilhite said. "There is
nothing to fear if there is nothing to hide."

The Mobile County school board does not have a countywide drug
testing policy for students or teachers, said spokeswoman Nancy
Pierce. She said the board discussed student testing several years
ago, but a board member objected to it unless teachers were tested,
and since teachers cannot be tested, the issue died, she said.

The state school board provides no funding for student drug testing,
leaving those decisions in the hands of local authorities, Thorington
said.

The Alabama Education Association -- the state teachers union --
supports student drug testing, as long as the cost does not take
"dollars out of the classroom," said John Hudson, Baldwin County's
AEA representative.

Hudson said teachers can be tested if there is "reasonable suspicion"
of drug use and added he is "committed to working with Dr. Hollinger
on improving our local drug-testing policy to include 'reasonable
suspicion.'" Wilhite said Baldwin officials are also open to
examining the legality of teacher drug testing based on "reasonable
suspicion."

The issue of teacher drug testing surfaced in early December after
the drug-related arrest of 30-year-old Christy Byrd Philips, a math
teacher at Loxley Elementary School.

She was charged with possession of a controlled substance,
second-degree possession of marijuana and possession of drug
paraphernalia after Baldwin County sheriff's deputies searched her
home and found methamphetamine, marijuana and about $1,000 cash,
authorities said.

Efforts to contact Philips were unsuccessful. She remains on paid
administrative leave, Wilhite said.