RANDOM DRUG TESTING COULD BEGIN IN SHELBY COUNTY SCHOOLS THIS YEAR

Shelby County Schools could begin random drug testing as early as this
school year.

Supt. John Aitken and board members were still hammering out the
details of the newly proposed policy at a Thursday board meeting.

If approved in October, random drug testing would touch nearly 30
percent of the district's 47,000 students, which take part in
extracurricular activities.

Aitken wants to make sure jocks won't be singled out. "I don't think
we need to narrow it down to sports," he said.

Drug testing would likely include members of chess club, band and
yearbook, as well as other activities.

Parents will have to sign a consent form for their children to be
tested. However, if they don't, students won't be able to take part,
Aitken said.

"It's another tool in the tool chest for a kid as a deterrent from
peer pressure," he said.

Still being decided is how the system will fund the program, what
grades it will affect and how students would be selected for testing.

Attorney Valerie Speakman suggested the district go the route of many
large companies and use software that arbitrarily spits out student
names.

According to state law, students can't be kicked out of school for
testing positive, but they can be kicked off the football team,
Speakman said.

The proposed policy comes on the heels of state legislation that
cleared the way for individual school districts to set their own
drug-testing policies. Previously, schools could only drug test if
they had probable cause to believe a student was using drugs.

Memphis City Schools does not test for drugs, but many area private
schools have long held the practice.

Memphis Catholic Schools has been testing its high schoolers for the
past decade.

Because a 2007 Attorney General's opinion asserting that random drug
testing -- rather than testing after a reasonable suspicion of drug
use -- violated state law was not legally binding or considered law,
some school districts, including Shelby County Schools, continued the
practice.

Paid for by the city of Germantown, Germantown High has done random
drug testing since the late 1990s.

"It's an expensive program and it does require some funds," Aitken
said.

Board members estimated the drug tests will cost more than $10
each.

Drug testing at Germantown High was initiated under board member
Ernest Chism, a former principal.

Never in his years with the program did a student ever test positive
twice, he said.

"They had to decide whether band was more important than doing drugs
or vice versa," said Chism. "It gave them an excuse to say no."