ONLY ONE SHOWS AT PUBLIC DRUG MEETING

Everyone who showed up Monday for a public meeting about student
drug testing in the DeKalb County School System supported the measure.

That would be Teresa Hatfield, of Ider. She was only person, other
than school officials, to attend Monday's forum at Valley Head High
School. The meeting was the first of three scheduled public meetings
to discuss proposed student drug testing in the county system.

Another was scheduled for Tuesday night in Rainsville and a third
will be Monday at Crossville High School.

Hatfield, who said she has two daughters who go to school at Ider,
said she favors the idea of student drug testing.

"I just wanted to say that I'm for it," Hatfield said. She said she
believes testing could help students say no to drug use in social
situations away from school.

The proposed testing program, patterned after one recently adopted
for use in the Fort Payne City School System, includes only students
who are involved in competitive extracurricular activities or who
drive to school, setting graduated penalties for violation that
include at least temporary suspensions from those activities.

The proposed program would use a random, computerized selection
method to pick which students are tested on a particular day.

The program does not refer violators to law enforcement officials,
but rather provides for counseling opportunities.

DeKalb Superintendent Charles Warren praised Hatfield for attending
the meeting and said the remaining forums would continue, as planned.

"Whether we have five or 55 attend the meetings, we're happy to have
the input of parents on this matter," Warren said. "The whole idea
is to have a public forum where parents can come and ask questions
and discuss any concerns they might have."

In addition to Warren, school board member Harold Bobo, several
members of the policy subcommittee on student drug testing, and Liz
Wear, director of the Partnership for a Drug-Free DeKalb, were present.

Wear secured a $500,000, three-year grant to establish student dru-
testing programs in both the city and county school systems. The
city will begin mandatory testing June 3. The grant calls for
testing students, in seventh through 12th grade, involved in
competitive interscholastic extracurricular activities.

The program can legally test up to 49 percent of the student
population, Wear said. She said the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled
that performing drug tests on an entire student population has been
ruled unconstitutional. That is why the program involves only those
students involved in voluntary extracurricular activities, to
include driving to school and parking on campus.

"I think this will take a lot of peer pressure off the kids," Bobo
said. "It might keep one of them from doing something one time, but
if you can do that, then you're ahead of the game."

Warren agreed. "Prevention, not punishment, is the ultimate goal," he said.