SHELBYVILLE SCHOOL BOARD APPROVES DRUG TESTING PROGRAM

SHELBYVILLE - Some seventh-through 12th-grade students in
Shelbyville schools will be subject to random drug tests in the
2006-07 school year under a plan approved Thursday night by the
Shelbyville school board.

The board approved the resolution 4-2, asking school attorneys to
finalize a drug-testing program. One board member was absent.

The recommendation comes after a committee of parents, teachers and
administrators outlined a plan for random drug testing.

Under the plan, students who participate in "competitive"
extracurricular activities or obtain student parking permits will be
placed in a drug testing pool. A computer program will generate
identification numbers for random drug urine tests. The students will
be taken to an off-campus location for testing.

Students testing positive will be subject to mandatory drug
counseling and suspended from activity participation. Shelbyville
High School Principal Kevin Ross stressed that drug testing is only
part of what the school should be doing.

"We need some kind of program, some kind of initiatives to go along
with this," Ross said. "Testing alone isn't enough."

Shelbyville schools have participated in drug dog searches of student
lockers and cars and have sponsored drug abuse education programs and
assemblies for students.

When board members asked why seventh- and eighth-graders would be
included in testing, committee member Gary Hayden, a physician's
assistant, said unsupervised middle school students also could get
into trouble with drug use. He said working hours, from 7 a.m. to 7
p.m. at Shelbyville's largest employer, International Paper, leaves
many students alone before school begins.

"Students who have access to Ritalin can sell or trade it," he said.
"They snort it to get high or sell it to their friends. Their parents
don't know if the student is taking the drug prescribed for them or
using it in an illegal way."

Two board members, Larry Durbin and Ross Huber, voted against the
resolution. Durbin said he would like more information about the plan
and suggested surveying parents during school registration.

"I think we're picking on a select body," said Huber. "If we're going
to do this, we should test everyone, students, faculty and staff."

Committee members said they looked for the broadest student
population to test and still obey laws that say the entire student
population cannot be tested. In the past five years, 10 students in
Shelbyville schools have been suspended for illegal drug use.