DRUG TESTS FOR NEW TEACHERS APPROVED

School board OKs pilot program one year after establishing policy. Seventy
new employees will be screened this summer.

Almost one year after passing a school district policy to screen job
applicants for drug use, the Burbank Board of Education has approved a
pre-employment drug testing pilot program. In a unanimous vote Thursday,
the school board allocated $3,150 to drug test approximately 70 new
employees at $45 per person in July and August, district officials said.

The program was delayed a year because district resources ~ money and
personnel ~ were tapped to comply with a state law requiring fingerprinting
of prospective employees, said Robert Fraser, district human resources
director. The state law passed around the same time the testing program was
to begin.

The program will determine whether permanent drug testing is necessary, he
said.

Efforts to start a drug testing program were further hampered by increased
teacher hires because of the district's class-size reduction efforts,
Fraser said. It will also be hard to track the results because the prospect
of a drug test may scare away potential applicants who might not pass the
screening, said Elena Hubbell, the school board president.

"It's very expensive," Hubbell said. "But I don't think $3,000 is too much
to spend if we can divert unwanted employees away from our students."
Hubbell said the school board was advised by district officials last year
that implementing the pilot program immediately would be too expensive.
Under the districtwide program, a prospective employee who fails the drug
test will immediately be rejected as a candidate. He or she will not be
allowed a second test, officials said.

At the end of August, the school board will decide whether to continue,
modify or eliminate drug testing after reviewing the results of the pilot
program.

In October, Richard Bedigan, a John Burroughs High School science teacher,
was arrested after being caught snorting cocaine on a desk in his
classroom. He later pleaded no contest to the charge and was ordered to
enroll in a drug program.

Such an incident puts more focus on the need for drug testing, Hubbell
said, but did not prompt the school board's decision. Had the pilot program
been implemented earlier, it would not have prevented the Bedigan incident
because employees already with the district are not tested, Hubbell said.
There has been some discussion, however, of random drug testing among
employees and students, she said, but the district is not actively pursuing
such a program.