SCHOOL BOARD TO FINANCE DRUG TESTING

Plan Is Response To DA's Initiative

Hours after Orleans Parish District Attorney Harry Connick announced
his office had secured a $400,000 federal grant to finance drug
testing and drug education in the city's high schools, the Orleans
Parish School Board voted to finance its own drug-prevention pilot
program.

The board's six-month long, $360,000 program will target two high
schools: G.W. Carver Senior High and Frederick Douglass Senior High.
School principals will be able to compel drug tests on a basis of
"reasonable suspicion."

School officials cast their program as a more well-rounded approach
that will include preventive education measures and treatment after a
student tests positive. Connick's program, they said, did not follow
through after students were identified as drug users.

"We know Harry Connick got $400,000 to continue his drug-testing
program, but he can't do that unless we give him access to our
children, and we're not going to give him access to our children,"
School Board President Ellenese Brooks-Sims said. "We're going to do
this with a comprehensive, holistic plan."

But Connick, who has long supported drug testing in high schools, said
his program, infused by the federal grant, does have the money for
treatment.

"This is the first time we have the money for a comprehensive
program," Connick said. "We hope that all Orleans Parish elected and
public officials who represent our schools agree."

Connick's program, which will be open to public and private schools,
will include anti-drug education for students and parents, hair and
urine testing, and counseling for students who test positive for
drugs. A yet-to-be-named committee will choose which schools should
participate in the program. The drug program is scheduled to begin in
September.

For public schools to participate in the program, principals need the
support of the parent association and approval from the School Board
and schools CEO Al Davis.

Douglass and Carver previously teamed up with Connick's office to
perform voluntary hair-testing with the permission of students'
parents. The program received mixed reviews and generated some
controversy, particularly because of an ongoing debate about the
accuracy of hair-testing, which some researchers say is biased against
African-Americans. Last spring, the board suspended the testing
programs in the face of such concerns.

Connick said drug testing lets officials get troubled students the
help they need while reducing school violence. His office is not
looking for offenders to punish, he said. Instead, it's looking for
students who need help.

When Douglass High School took part in the voluntary program, more
than 400 students were tested, and about 10 percent of them tested
positive, Connick said. He estimated that drug use at some high
schools may be far higher.

From November 2000 to November 2001, more than 450 students at public
and private high schools in New Orleans were arrested on drug
violations, according to statistics gathered by Connick's office. The
two schools with the most arrestees, based on information the students
supplied authorities, were Frederick Douglass Senior High School, with
31, and Booker T. Washington High School, with 29.

"There's smoking going on in the hallways and drugs going on in the
hallways, and violence and threats against teachers, and much of this
is drug-related," Connick said.
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Natalie Pompilio can be reached at npompilio@timespicayune.com or (504)
826-3396. Brian Thevenot can be
reached at bthevenot@timespicayune.com or (504) 826- 3482.