http://www.azstarnet.com/public/dnews/0805820.html

Thursday, 25 September 1997

Fla. school district OKs high school drug tests with parents' approval

MIAMI (AP) Dade County yesterday became the nation's largest school
district to approve random drug testing of all high school students
whose parents give their approval.

Parents will be offered consent forms allowing a private testing agency
to pull students out of classes at random and test them for five drugs:
marijuana, cocaine, opiates, barbiturates and amphetamines.

Students whose parents don't sign the forms won't be tested.

School board member Renier Diaz de la Portilla, who proposed the
program, said it was intended to help parents without stepping on
anyone's constitutional rights.

``It's total parental empowerment,'' he said following the 63 vote.
``Not all parents have the time to make sure their kids aren't doing
drugs. We're doing this as a service but it's still the parents'
initiative they still have the responsibility.''

August Steinhilber, general counsel for the National School Boards
Association in Washington, said he did not know of any other district
in the country with random drug testing of the general student
population.

Dade, with 345,000 students, is the nation's fourthlargest district,
behind New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago.

Steinhilber said Dade went too far, that he usually advises districts
against such wide drugtesting policies because of concerns over the
invasion of students' privacy.

``Normally random tests are unreasonable,'' he said. ``You would have
to have reasonable suspicion, or an immediate safety problem.''

Dade plans to spend up to $200,000 to start the program, with the first
tests expected in January.

The testing agency will tell parents when their kids test positive and
will recommend treatment and counseling programs. Schools won't know
who tests positive.

Michael Krop, one of the board members who voted against the measure,
said he thought it may have been worth a try but not on the general
student population. If he were a parent faced with the consent forms,
he would not sign.

``It's certainly not my parenting style,'' he said.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1995 that public school athletes can be
tested even if they are not individually suspected of using drugs. The
court did not say whether a drugtesting requirement can be extended to
other students.

As a result, a few schools around the country require drug testing for
those participating in sports and other extracurricular activities. And
a few are trying out more modest versions of the plan Dade school
officials approved yesterday.

Still, schools across the country are tiptoeing close to the
constitutional line.

For example, school officials in Tupelo, Miss., decided to require
testing only if students are believed to be under the influence of
drugs or alcohol on school grounds.