DRUG TESTS PROPOSED FOR INTER-LAKES STUDENTS

Inter-Lakes officials will examine the possible issue of students
coming to school under the influence of drugs after the School Board's
chairman suggestion the students suspected of drug use be tested.

School Board Chair Jack Carty said at Tuesday's board meeting that he
asked for a legal opinion regarding a possible drug testing policy for
students suspected of being under the influence.

According to the current policy, students suspected of being on
alcohol or drugs during the school day are sent to the nurse's office,
reported to the principal's office and a parent or guardian is called
to take the student home.

Superintendent Phil McCormack said the student does not go home alone
and there has only been one case of a student walking off school
property after being confronted.

"There's no deterrent, there's no specificity," Carty said. If there
is a testing component to the existing school policy "we will now have
a firm policy if a student is believed to be impaired in the school
building."

Carty said substance abuse is a concern in the schools, especially
given recent students' surveys, and some parents may be in denial of
their children using drugs or alcohol. Direct testing results should
specifically show what a student has taken.

Carty said a testing policy could outline the rights, triggers and
other factors associated with the policy and he said the attorney
advised that the testing method be federally recognized.

"You need a whole continuum of things, you need a whole process after
that," said board member Julian Shlager. "I think it's got to be
developed with the attorney and the police. I think it becomes very
complicated in terms of individual rights and school rights."

Board members questioned what purpose the tests could serve, including
being used as a deterrent, how test results could be used and how the
school resource officer and the police in general would figure into
the policy.

Carty said those are details that could be worked out in the process
of examining the issue and possibly making a policy.

"We need to come up with some definitive thing," Carty said. "We do
have an obligation to ensure the safety of the students (in) the building."

Shlager suggested that any related policy could be done under the
heading of student and school safety.

McCormack said there has been only one known incident this year
related to a student being in school under the influence.

"If a student has been sent to the office and ended up being suspended
I would have seen it," he said.

McCormack said he will speak with the administrators, school resource
officer and school nurse at Inter-Lakes High School to fully
understand what is happening at the school.