SCHOOL DRUG TESTING PROGRAM ON HOLD

Wake Officials Hope the Program, Primarily to Detect Student Marijuana Use,
Can Start by March

RALEIGH -- Because of school board concerns, Wake County school
administrators have put on hold a new student drug testing program that was
supposed to have started last month.

Administrators are now getting public comment and hope the school board
will give its approval in January so they can start the program by March.

"We're trying to get another deterrent into the schools, these aerosol drug
detection kits," said Corey Duber, Wake schools' security director. "We
still don't have a large drug problem in the schools by any means, but one
case is enough."

Wake would be the first school district in the Triangle to test students
suspected of using illegal drugs. The tests would be given primarily to
students who school officials have reasonable suspicion of possessing
marijuana.

Wake administrators had agreed, before getting board approval, that this
school year they would begin a federally funded pilot program involving
school districts in Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia to test a new
aerosol method of detecting drugs. The Mistral Group, a Maryland-based
company, is providing free aerosol drug detection kits to schools.

With the new kits, litmus paper is rubbed on surfaces such as book bags or
hands; then a spray is applied to the paper. If even microscopic amounts of
drugs are present, the paper changes color in seconds.

Similar kits are already used by groups such as the U.S. Customs Service to
search for drugs.

After local media publicized the program, school board members raised
concerns about not having known about it beforehand. In response, Duber
told Mistral that Wake's participation was on hold until he had spoken with
the board and the nine board advisory councils.

Duber said he has the support of three advisory councils and at least some
school board members.

"I trust Corey and his staff to have looked at it, and there's nothing
about it that alarms me," school board member Patti Head said.

But some groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Union of North
Carolina, are still concerned with the direction in which Wake
administrators are going.

"The proposed procedures raise serious constitutional concerns," said Seth
Jaffe, staff attorney for the state ACLU.

Although the kits can detect cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines, Duber
said he'll test primarily for marijuana because that accounts for "99.9
percent" of the drugs found in Wake's schools. There were 224 cases of
students' possessing controlled substances on campus last school year.

No Random Testing

Under the proposed procedures, there would be no random testing.

Tests would be conducted only when there is "reasonable suspicion" that a
student is currently under the influence of an illegal drug, currently in
possession of an illegal substance or currently maintaining an illegal
substance in a locker or vehicle. In contrast, police have the higher
standard of demonstrating probable cause before they can search.

Duber said the results may be used for some sort of disciplinary action but
won't be used for criminal prosecution.

Likely Scenarios

Duber gave examples of when the kits might be used:

* A student arrives at school with a strong odor of marijuana. If a search
finds nothing and the student denies the allegation, his or her hands would
be tested. If residue is found, it would strengthen the case for a
principal to take disciplinary action against the student.

* Administrators receive information that a student's locker contains
drugs. Nothing is found in the locker, but an odor of marijuana is
detected. If the student denies the allegation and no drugs are found on
him or her, the locker may be sprayed for residue.

* An odor of marijuana comes from a student's vehicle. If nothing is found
on the student and he or she denies the allegation, the interior of the
vehicle can be sprayed.

Finding drug residue in the locker or the car, Duber said, wouldn't lead to
automatic disciplinary action. But he said it would strengthen the case for
the principal to investigate further.

Duber said he thinks the kits would be used sparingly. He's hoping that
word of the kits will cause students to decide it's too risky to bring
drugs to school.

Questions from ACLU

But Jaffe of the ACLU questioned why Wake would use the kits after no drugs
are found. He said it brings into doubt whether school officials would
still have reasonable suspicion to test.

In addition, Jaffe questioned why the proposal doesn't list specific
punishments students could face if the tests find residue.

What has made Wake's proposal unusual is that, officially at least, none of
the other school districts in the pilot program test students. Chuck
Griffiths, project coordinator for Mistral, said some districts may go so
far as to test a student's clothing, but not, as far as he knows, their bodies.

"So far, the districts we're working with don't test students," Griffiths said.

But Griffiths added that districts can use the kits as they wish.

Griffiths said the primary way districts now use the kits is to spray areas
such as bathrooms where school officials believe narcotics are being used,
something that Duber also proposes doing. The kits can help administrators
determine when they need to monitor the rooms for drug use.

National attention

Publicity about Wake's involvement also generated national media attention
for the program, which had begun quietly last school year in four New
Jersey school districts. That publicity caused one New Jersey school
district to drop out. Minneapolis also opted not to join, but Griffiths
said that was for other reasons.

However, the publicity also resulted in several Colorado school districts'
expressing interest in joining this school year, Griffiths said. In
addition, he said he has received calls from school districts in New Jersey
and Maryland that want to start by next school year.

Griffiths said he's hopeful Wake will still join the program.

"I do hope North Carolina will come in," he said. "I think it's great
they're going through the public input process."