HEADTEACHER SPEAKS OUT ON SCHOOL'S NEW DRUGS TESTS

PUPILS at one of our top schools are to be tested for exposure to
drugs after their morning assembly.

Margaret Lenton, head-teacher at Slough Grammar School, emphasised
that there is not a drug problem among her 1,150 pupils, but that
from the start of next term in September her school will pilot a new
scheme on testing.

She said: "Do I have a serious drug problem at my school? No, I do
not. But I will take any measures to make sure my pupils are safe and secure."

Mrs Lenton said that the drug testing equipment, which simply scans
pupils as they walk past it is 'non invasive' and does not require
samples like hair fibres.

The scheme has the full backing of governors, parents and teachers at
the Lascelles Road school.

She said: "This school has a zero tolerance policy towards drugs."

Mrs Lenton said that she does not see the testing as an invasion of
privacy. "As far as I know, there are two basic human rights. The
right to life and the right not to be enslaved. This does not affect
either of them."

She said the drug testing equipment will be operated by a police
officer. "It is not invasive like having a DNA swab. They will walk
past it at the end of assembly. It will test whether they have been
exposed to drugs, including alcohol."

Mrs Lenton said that if it emerges that any pupils are involved in
dealing 'they will face the full course of the law. Anyone who is
taking, we will bring their parents in. But I don't expect to find any drugs'.

She said that she has volunteered to take part in the scheme and had
strong views on drugs. "About five years ago, I went to Rotterdam. I
went into the town centre as the guest of the head of a school and
the chief education officer.

"You saw young people reeling around the streets. Drugs are
tolerated. A woman said to me that Holland has become the drugs
capital of the world. She said to me: 'Don't you make the same mistake'."

Mrs Lenton, an East Berkshire magistrate, said she is concerned about
the relaxed attitude towards cannabis. "It is now four or five times
stronger. The Government has changed it from a B to a C category
drug. I don't think this sends out the right message as 75% of crime
is drug related. Yet you see people on street corners selling them."

A spokesman for Slough Council said: "Slough Grammar School is the
only school taking part in the scheme."