SHELBY SCHOOLS' DRUG TESTS MAY GROW

Shelby County school Superintendent Evan K. Major will recommend that the
school board vote today to approve random drug tests for students who park
on campus, he said.

If approved, the policy would take effect in the coming school year at all
of the county's high schools.

Students parking on campus would be the latest group added to the list of
those subject to random drug tests. Shelby County schools have required
drug testing for athletes and cheerleaders since 1998, and last year school
officials added students participating in extracurricular activities such
as band.

Ken Mobley, student services coordinator for Shelby County schools, said
that, while there have been no accidents involving Shelby County students
coming to school under the influence of drugs, the proposed policy is meant
to be a preventive measure. Students have come to school impaired, he said.
"It's a dangerous situation. That's why we want to prevent it."

Under the policy, students would be tested as a condition of receiving a
parking permit and would be subject to random drug tests throughout the
year. Students testing positive for drugs once would lose parking
privileges for seven weeks, while a second offense would bar the student
from parking on school grounds the rest of the year.

Michele Trachy Zaragoza, whose daughter attends Oak Mountain High School,
said requiring students who park on campus to be tested for drugs is a
violation of privacy. The waiver states that test results may be released
to the school board, medical review officer, drug program coordinator "and
to local school officials who have a need to know."

"The problem is the waiver is so broad, because the principal can tell
anyone" he thinks he needs to, Trachy Zaragoza said.

The drug tests are unnecessary, she said. "If my daughter comes in stoned
out of her mind, I think a teacher is going to know this."

Mobley said a student's drug test results are held confidential. "The least
number of people that need to know would be informed," he said.

Some who might need to know include the principal and, if the student were
an athlete, the school's athletic coordinator, Mobley said. The information
is not released to law enforcement officials, he said. "It's dealt with
within the school."

Major said the vote comes after months of review. "Before we ever started,
we knew that this procedure has been upheld by the (U.S.) Supreme Court,"
he said. "We're comfortable that this policy upholds the letter and intent
of the law."