TESTING LIMITS

The School Board, With Ample Advice From the Public, Is
the Right Group to Decide Whether to Allow Drug-Testing of Students

Wake County school administrators wisely have decided to delay
drug-testing students until the public has its say. Now the publicly
elected members of the school board will make the call.

With good reason, school board members expressed concern after The
News & Observer reported the administration's earlier plan to begin
the program quietly in October. Now the question is whether, come
March, Wake should participate in a federally funded experiment with a
new aerosol method of detecting drugs, primarily marijuana, on school
grounds as well as on students themselves.

The Mistral Group, a private company based in Maryland, is providing
drug detection kits free to participating school districts in
Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia so far. Mistral's technique is to
rub chemically sensitive litmus paper on surfaces, such as lockers or
book bags, then spray the paper to see if it has picked up drug
residue that causes it to change color. Students suspected of
marijuana possession would be the main ones tested. If approved, Wake
would be the first system in the Triangle to test students for illegal
drugs and the only school district in the pilot project to do so.

The Wake school system's security director, Corey Duber, describes the
Mistral test more as a deterrent to drug use than as a solution to a
drug problem. During the last school year, 224 cases of drug
possession were reported on Wake campuses. To maintain a healthy
learning environment, school staffs must be able to keep illegal drugs
out. The Mistral tests could be used in a limited way -- to guide
patrolling efforts, for example, to places where drug use might be
occurring -- and serve as a deterrent.

But the idea of using them on students' hands or clothing is
bothersome. The tests don't determine the source of the residue,
making it possible for one student to "plant" evidence on another.
Administrators say they would use the tests only on students whom they
had good reason to suspect of drug use and only if searches turn up no
physical evidence. In the absence of such evidence, though, reasonable
suspicion becomes hard to argue. It could hinge on subjective factors
such as a student's demeanor, or what seemed to be the odor of
marijuana. Results of these tests may not be meant to bolster a
criminal case, but their presence in a student's school file still
could be harmful.

Without a doubt, schools need the public's support if they are to
maintain any discipline. That's one reason the school board needs to
hear from parents and others in advance of setting policies. The full
school board is not expected to take up this subject again until late
January. However, some citizens advisory councils in individual board
members' districts are still considering it, and the board will have
public comment on the agenda at its next meeting Dec. 17 starting at 2
p.m. at headquarters, 3600 Wake Forest Road.

Delaying the Mistral project, thankfully, has made it possible for the
public to weigh in on student drug-testing policy. So let's become
informed about how best to protect the county's school children, and
from whom: drug users or officials willing to compromise their civil
rights.