PLAN TO EXPAND DRUG TESTING OK'D

3-Time Suspended Students Targeted

Students in Jefferson Parish schools who have been suspended three times
could be tested for drugs under a policy approved Wednesday night by the
Jefferson Parish School Board.

The policy, however, is subject to a review by the board's attorney, who
could recommend changes.

The U.S. Supreme Court approved drug screening for students in
extracurricular activities last month and already had upheld testing
student athletes.

But Freddie Landry, Jefferson's anti-drug and school safety coordinator,
said the idea of testing public school students with discipline offenses is
uncharted territory.

The policy says that if a middle, junior or high school student is
suspended three times in a year, the student cannot return to class until
he or she takes a drug test. If results were positive for drugs, the
student would be referred to counseling and not punished further.

The plan expands a program that requires all high school students who play
sports or other physically demanding extracurricular activities to give
tufts of their hair for drug testing. That program, approved by the board
in March, also allows students at East Jefferson High School in Metairie
and John Ehret High School in Marrero to volunteer for testing with
parental permission.

If voters approve a new half-cent sales tax for the schools July 20, the
plan would include students in all schools in the district.

"Here we are testing the good kids, and we're not doing testing for the
discipline problems," said Barry Bordelon, the board member who proposed
Wednesday's change.

Bordelon said the move would bolster school safety. He said it has such
widespread support that the other eight board members asked to be listed as
co-sponsors of the motion.

"I think this puts a great deal of teeth into the discipline policies we
already have in place," board member Chris Roberts said. "If I had my way,
I'd test all students."

Board member Gene Katsanis said the testing is designed to help students
with drug problems, not to punish them.

"If you get them off drugs, you accomplish something and you help improve
their life," Katsanis said.

A critic, however, said drug testing invades students' privacy and teaches
them to surrender their constitutional rights.

Joe Cook, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in
Louisiana, said the testing violates the Fourth Amendment's protection from
unreasonable searches by treating students as though they are guilty of
drug offenses even if there's little or no reason for suspicion.

Under the plan, about 500 students with discipline problems would be tested
per year, Landry said. The cost, about $25,000, could be covered by federal
grants that finance the rest of the testing program.