SELECTIVE DRUG TESTING NOT NECESSARY IN SCHOOLS

Rules Already In Place That Punish Drug Abuse Fairly

Local schools should not do random drug tests on students participating in
extracurricular activities, despite a court ruling giving them that right.

The Beaufort County School District already has in place a clear and
appropriately punitive policy against possession or use of drugs on campus
or at school-sponsored events.

Beyond that, Hilton Head High School has used random, unannounced
school-wide checks of lockers and cars with drug-sniffing dogs to reinforce
to the students that drug abuse will not be tolerated.

Consistent enforcement of existing policy should suffice. It clearly
outweighs the alternative approved by the U.S. Supreme Court: random drug
tests for a select group of students when there is no suspicion of wrongdoing.

Students involved in extracurricular activities are already held to higher
standards. They must meet grade requirements higher than the general
student body. And they are already under greater scrutiny by adults. They
are subjected to school policies, including the anti-drug policies, for
many more hours of each day and week, and many of their weekends are spent
at school-sponsored events.

We believe that it is a privilege to represent the school in
extracurricular activities, not a right. But there are plenty of ways to
ensure that the privilege is being lived up to without subjecting the
students to suspicionless testing. Students should be encouraged in every
way possible to get involved in extracurricular activities, and singling
them out for unequal treatment is not a way to encourage participation.

There is also the matter of the expense of the tests, and the time the
testing would take away from educators who are already stretched too thin.

And it raises the question of how much of the parental role the schools are
going to be forced to take on. There are proven, successful anti-drug
programs in use in public schools around the state of South Carolina that
could be adopted here -- but they are centered around parents and the
standards and savvy they exercise in the home.

Drug abuse -- particularly alcohol abuse -- is a significant issue at
Hilton Head High and probably most schools nationwide, both public and private.

Rather than embark on unfair testing, teachers, coaches and administrators
should be kept up to date on what to do when they suspect a child is
abusing drugs. What is the procedure? When you suspect something, what do
you do?

By no means do we advocate schools or parents who wink at drug abuse, hide
their heads in the sand and fail to address the problem. We have supported
prior efforts to hold students accountable and eliminate loopholes in drug
policy enforcement.

But the schools have tools in place to do address the issue without
resorting to suspicionless drug tests. And there is plenty more that
parents can do if they so choose.