El Dorado District

MORE FACE DRUG TESTS FOR SCHOOL

Nearly every middle and high school student in the El Dorado school
district will be tested for drug and alcohol use this year.

Any student in seventh grade or higher who wants to participate in
extracurricular activities must agree to undergo a mandatory drug
test. That includes students who play in the band, join the math club,
attend a homecoming dance, take drivers education in the summer,
participate in a spelling bee or park in the school parking lot.

It isn't unusual for districts to test athletes, and many districts
will test students who are suspected of being under the influence of
drugs.

El Dorado's new policy is different in that the district expanded what
is considered an extracurricular activity.

Superintendent Tom Biggs said the definition was broadened to make
students safe.

"We passed our policy to be proactive," he said.

Some parents and students say the policy invades students' privacy.
Others say it's a necessary step to protect kids.

Intentional Inclusion

The district cites two U.S. Supreme Court cases that it said allow it
to do the testing.

One case allowed mandatory drug testing among student athletes. The
second, an Oklahoma case, allowed for random testing among middle and
high school students participating in extracurricular activities.

El Dorado's policy intentionally includes more students, Biggs
said.

"One of the discussions that was had was that there was a lot of
random testing policies that just deal with kids in athletics," he
said. "We felt we needed to include as many kids as we possibly could."

The policy is a result of a presentation students made to the school
board in 1999. Biggs said board members tabled the issue then because
of how much it would cost to do the testing.

The idea was brought back up by new school board members this
year.

Staff members looked at other school districts' policies in other
parts of the country.

The school board adopted the policy in June as a preventive measure,
Biggs said.

"By having a policy in place we have a program that provides the best
learning setting for students as we possibly can," he said.

Students who participate in extracurricular activities must sign a
form allowing the testing at the beginning of the year. Their parents
must also sign. Those students then will be chosen at random to take
the urinalysis drug test. Students will be tested at least once a year.

The district will pay $25 per student per test. It plans to spend
$10,000 to $12,000 on the tests, which will be done by an El Dorado
company.

Students who test positive for drugs or alcohol won't be allowed to
participate in extracurricular activities for two weeks and will be
subject to additional testing. They must also go through an assessment
program paid for by their parents to determine the extent of drug or
alcohol use.

The second time a student tests positive he or she will be required to
go through a substance abuse program approved by the district, which
also must be paid for by the parents.

If a student wishes to appeal the results, parents must pay for the
retest.

Where to Draw the Line

Martha McCarthy, chancellor's professor and the chair of education
leadership and policy studies at Indiana University at Bloomington,
said El Dorado's policy is right on the border line of U.S. Supreme
Court rulings dealing with student drug testing.

"You can always test kids that are suspicious," said McCarthy, who
specializes in educational law. "What is controversial is testing the
suspicious-less. It sounds like they are pushing the legal
definition."

Testing every student without a reason could be legally dangerous for
school districts, she said.

Some school districts include driving to school as part of
extracurricular activities. But El Dorado's definition also includes
attendance at dances and school plays. That expanded definition of an
extracurricular activity makes El Dorado's policy unusual, she said.

"I've not seen that," she said. "But it's not to say that it couldn't
be upheld (in court)."

Brett Shirk, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union
of Kansas and Western Missouri, said he hadn't heard of a policy that
makes drug testing mandatory to attend dances and plays.

"It's extreme and it's alienating students," he said.

One issue with testing students for drugs is getting an incorrect
result or a false positive if a student is on medication, Shirk said.

"There are a lot of drugs over the counter that could be picked up
that are legal and can be seen as a different substance," he said.

El Dorado allows students who test positive to bring a doctor's note
if they are on any medication that could affect the test.

Some Won't Sign

David King, whose 18-year-old daughter Rebecca is a senior at the high
school, isn't happy with the new policy.

"It's a giant waste of money," he said.

King said he found out about it during the district's enrollment
period in August.

Rebecca King said she won't sign the consent form for the drug test.
Students who don't sign are not allowed to participate in activities.

"We have nothing to hide," she said. "They are not trying to help us.
We're trying to be educated and graduate."

Rebecca, who regularly goes to games and dances, parks a half a block
away from the school. She said she's prepared to not go to her senior
prom.

"I went last year and it wasn't anything special," she
said.

Pam Coley, who has two daughters attending the high school, said she
thinks the policy will help a lot of kids stay drug-free.

"The ones that have things to hide don't like it," she said. "There is
a drinking problem in this area. We are trying to prevent them from
hurting themselves."

Coley was one of the parents who commented on the new
policy.

"When kids are in high school, they don't have a lot of rights," she
said. "Really we are more trying to prevent problems."