TEACHERS FUMBLE ON DRUG TESTING

Teachers and their unions could better use their money to work with
school board officials to develop a reasonable drug-testing program
that assures the public that school employees are drug free.

Two West Virginia teachers unions are suing the Kanawha County Board
of Education over its plan to randomly drug test school employees.

What a fiasco.

The West Virginia Education Association, with support from the
American Civil Liberties Union, has joined the American Federation of
Teachers-West Virginia in arguing that the school board's policy would
violate employees' rights, waste tax dollars and not improve student
safety.

The Kanawha County Commission has expressed interest in supporting the
school board. Other public bodies across the state likely will want to
watch this case to see what steps they can take to protect the public
from drug-using employees.

We'll overlook the teachers' arrogant public boast -- and public
relations gaffe -- that their legal action would cause the school
board to spend scarce taxpayer dollars. Instead, let's focus on a
couple of relevant questions:

Do taxpayers and parents have a right to expect public schools to
provide a safe and secure environment in which drug-free educators
teach our children?

Given the responsibilities of public schools, how can anyone suggest
that educators are not in "safety sensitive" positions?

The answers are obvious.

The public entrusts its children to school employees -- from bus
drivers to cafeteria workers to classroom teachers. All come in
contact with children, and all contribute to the school
environment.

Many American workers must take drug tests so they can work in safety
sensitive positions. Public safety employees -- police officers and
firefighters, for example -- and those who work in public
transportation accept drug testing as part of their employment
arrangement. That obviously means teachers are not being singled out.

Drug abuse among teachers may be relatively low, but can their unions
honestly say teachers uniquely have avoided the plague of drug use and
that those who use drugs pose no risks to students? Can they also say
that those drug-using teachers don't serve as poor role models?

Teachers and their unions could better use their money to work with
school board officials to develop a reasonable drug-testing program
that assures the public that school employees are drug free. The
teachers' willingness to help resolve this problem would go a long way
toward rebuilding the good will they are squandering through their
defiant and costly behavior.

Absent such an approach, we'll just have to let the courts sort this
out.