EXCLUSIVE SCHOOLS TELL PARENTS: TAKE YOUR CHILDREN FOR DRUG TESTS

Parents of students at a growing number of elite Sydney schools will be
forced into testing their children for drugs to prevent them being expelled.

Several principals contacted by the Heraldsaid they supported moves by St
Andrew's Cathedral School and The King's School, Parramatta, to introduce
drug testing and would follow suit if the need arose.

The St Andrew's Cathedral School has just begun a year-long trial of drug
testing. Its policy provides that when a student is caught with drugs, they
will not be expelled if they and their parents agree to a range of measures
including drug tests and counselling.

The parents will be asked to take the student to their doctor for
broad-screen urine tests, which test for a wide range of drugs, and send
the results to the school within five days.

The principal of St Andrew's, Mr Phillip Heath, said: "If the parents don't
agree, there is no future for the child at the school. We couldn't offer
the same kind of compassion."

The school is going ahead with the trial, despite receiving a letter from
the Privacy Commissioner, Mr Chris Puplick, informing it he considers drug
testing violates children's right to privacy, and would breach the UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Australia is a signatory.

Article 16 provides: "No child shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful
interference with his or her privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor
to unlawful attacks on his or her honour or reputation."

Mr Puplick said yesterday

an exception could be made if the student - not the parents - agreed to the
tests.

"If the child who is caught says, 'I am prepared to be monitored as long as
you don't tell my parents,' I do not object to that."

Mr Heath was advised by a lawyer that the school's policy could in certain
circumstances be suspended given agreement by all sides about the way forward.

"It is not arbitrary or capricious. It's an understanding between school
and family about management of a problem," he said.

It was important to be realistic about the fact that many young people
consider experimenting with drugs to be a rite of passage, and be
compassionate.

"We are trying to find a model of repentance, restoration and
reconciliation in this debate."

According to several principals, other schools have begun random drug tests
but are refusing to talk about it publicly, to avoid admitting to a drug
problem. Mr Heath said he had 'tacit support' from members of the
Association of Heads of Independent Schools.

The King's School in Parramatta already has random drug testing. Boarders
under suspicion are tested - with their parents' permission - by the
school's doctor, who sends the test to a pathologist. The families of
day-boys are usually asked to get a test done by their doctor.

Mr Chris Welsh, head of Oxley College at Bowral, agreed drug tests could be
the way forward.

"It needs to be seen holistically as part of a broader way of dealing with
a complex issue," he said.