DRUG TEST POLICY FOCUS OF MEETING

Survey May Lead To School Rule

MIDDLETOWN -- What are high school students' experiences and
attitudes about drug use?

Acting Superintendent Karen L. Bilbao hopes to provide the public
with an answer to this question at tonight's Board of Education
meeting with a presentation on the results of a drug survey that was
administered to eighth-through 12th-grade students in May.

The presentation is the next step in a proposal that could make
Middletown one of a number of growing districts in the state to
implement a policy in which students who are involved in
extracurricular activities or who have permits to park on school
grounds must submit randomly to drug testing.

"I was not surprised by the results," Bilbao said of the survey. "I
am certainly not surprised that we have kids telling us that they
have some involvement with drugs, even if it's a low involvement."

She added that Middletown, like other districts in the state, has had
increasing concern about student drug use, especially since former
Gov. Richard J. Codey brought the issue into the limelight less than
a year ago by signing a bill allowing school boards to randomly test
for drugs ninth-through 12th-graders involved in extracurricular activities.

Throughout May, Middletown students were surveyed anonymously to
determine what type of drugs they may have tried and their intent to
use them in the future. They also were asked of their perceptions
about a variety of drugs, including alcohol and tobacco.

The American Drug & Alcohol Survey was ad-ministered to students with
parental consent, Bilbao said. The surveys were purchased by the
district for more than $4,600, a cost that was funded by the Safe and
Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act, part of the federal No Child
Left Behind Act.

A public information session on the proposed random drug-testing
program will be held at the Sept. 20 workshop meeting of the board,
when there will be an opportunity for parents to ask questions.

Information about the proposal also will be available to parents at
the high school's back-to-school nights. A first reading of the
policy is scheduled for the Sept. 26 board meeting, with a final
reading and possible adoption set for Oct. 23, Bilbao said.

If board members give the the policy the go-ahead, Middletown will
join a handful of other schools in New Jersey, including Hunterdon
Central Regional High School, Brick Township High School and Brick
Memorial High School, which already have such a program in place.