EDUCATION BOARD TO ADDRESS DRUG-TESTING PLAN

ASHEVILLE - The Buncombe County Board of Education will consider Wednesday
whether to implement mandatory drug testing at Roberson High School.

The random testing program would involve athletes and other students
involved in extracurricular activities. The goal is to provide students
with an incentive to avoid illicit drugs.

"I think anyone would be extremely nave to say there is not a drug problem
in Buncombe County schools," school board Chairman Roger Aiken said.

The board will meet in the school system's central office at 175 Bingham
Road. The meeting begins with a budget work session at 1 p.m. The regular
meeting, which will include consideration of the drug-testing plan, begins
at 4 p.m.

The proposal calls for testing about 25 percent of Roberson's students who
participate in sports and other extracurricular activities. That's about
200 students over the course of the school year, Principal George Drake said.

The tests would involve using a swab to obtain a saliva sample from the
student's mouth. Drake said samples would be analyzed at a local laboratory
at a cost of $26 to $28 each.

Students who test positive once would not be punished if their parents
agreed to drug counseling.

"We're not coming at it as a way to punish the children," Aiken said.
"We're coming at it as a way to help parents."

Carol Giauque, who has two daughters at Roberson, said she believes the
testing would be an unnecessary privacy intrusion.

"I think it sends a message to the kids that we don't trust them in the
first place," she said. "And I don't think that's going to keep drugs out
of the school."

The Citizen-Times on Wednesday will publish an in-depth look at the issue
of student drug testing.