RANKIN PLANS STRICT DRUG TESTING

4,000 Student Screenings Expected Next Year

Rankin County School Board members on Wednesday approved a preliminary
version of what school officials called one of the most aggressive
drug-testing programs in the state.

The district's decision came two days after the Pearl School Board voted to
approve a random drug-testing policy.

"We want to do everything we can to reverse the trend of drug use in our
schools," Superintendent Lynn Weathersby said.

The Pearl and Rankin policies both will randomly test students who
participate in extracurricular activities, seventh through 12th grades. But
also, any of the Rankin district's students in those grades will be subject
to testing if a school official has "reasonable suspicion."

The district, the third-largest in the state with more than 16,000
students, reported 37 incidents of drug possession during the 2003-04
school year, according to data from the state Department of Education.
Rankin will join at least eight districts statewide to approve such a policy.

Changes can be made to Rankin's policy before final approval at the board's
May 11 meeting, but district officials expect only minor changes.

Justin Hallett, a district employee who helped craft the policy, said it
will be one of the most stringent in the state after looking at similar
policies in the Tupelo, Pearl, Petal and North Pike School districts.
Hallett said the district has been working on the policy for the past few
months.

Hallett projected the district will test about 4,000 students next school
year at a cost of about $150,000. Weathersby said the district will seek
federal grants from the Office for Safe and Drug-free Schools to help
defray the costs.

Assistant Superintendent Hugh Carr said the program would be worth the
cost, though officials would not say where the district's money would come
from.

"I realize that the budget is an issue, but I also realize that we have an
obligation to make sure every student is protected from drugs," Carr said.

Carr said the group that drafted the policy met with parents, students and
administrators.

"The parents were really sincere about wanting a policy that will be a true
deterrent," Carr said.

Charlee Mulligan, a sophomore at Northwest Rankin High, said a lot of kids
will be upset with the testing, but it doesn't bother her.

How the drug test would work

Here's how the drug and alcohol testing policy would work in the Rankin
County School District:

- - All students in activities sanctioned by the Mississippi High School
Activities Association will be subject to random drug testing.

- - Randomly will test activity students and students under "reasonable
suspicion." Also will allow voluntary testing for students whose parents
want them to be part of the testing pool.

- - A first offense will carry a mandatory 28-day removal from the
extracurricular activity. Student must receive counseling and pass another
drug test to be re-instated.

- - A second positive test will result in placement at the Alternative School
for one semester.

- - If the student is re-instated and tests positive in another random test,
the student will be placed in the Alternative School for one semester.

- - The district will provide counseling.

"I have nothing to hide," Mulligan said. "I want to go to a good college
and I don't want to go out and do something that would screw up my life."

The policy randomly will test students in extracurricular activities
governed by the Mississippi High School Activities Association. After the
first positive test, students will be removed from extracurricular
activities for 28 calendar days. During that time, the student will have to
take another drug test.

In order to be re-instated, the student must pass the second drug test and
receive counseling. The number of counseling sessions will be determined by
the counselor and will be done at the district's expense.

After a second positive test, the student will be sent to the county's
Alternative School for a semester.

The Tupelo School District has been testing students since 1988. The
district tests all 600 of its athletes at the beginning of the school year,
Assistant Superintendent Jimmy Williams said.

Rankin County's program will not include the initial round of testing. Each
of the 12 schools with students in grades 7-12 will have two random tests
each month, Hallett said.

Under Rankin's policy, parents will be able to sign up their children in
the pool of students subject to testing. A consent form must be signed by
the parent.

As the county's school districts prepare to implement drug testing, Rankin
County Court Judge Thomas H. Broome hopes to start a Rankin County youth
drug court in late fall or early December.

Broome said that in 2004, 586 of the 1,100 kids processed through the
Rankin County youth court system, which includes Pearl, "had alcohol and
drug-related exposure."

Broome said that includes offenses such as public drunkenness and drug
possession.

"I think that the drug testing of the athletes and students involved in
extracurricular activities will certainly help curb the epidemic of drug
use among the kids," he said.

Broome hopes Rankin schools will follow the example of the Leake County
School District and the county's adult drug court, where they share testing
devices and the costs for testing.

The Madison County School District is in its second year of testing
extracurricular students, Superintendent Mike Kent said.

In its first year of testing, Kent said the district tested between 1,500
and 1,800 students. He said about 1.6 percent of those tests came back positive.