RANDOM DRUG TESTING OF TEACHERS A FIRST IN PEORIA AREA

It is common in many area school districts for certain students to be
subjected to random drug testing. The proposed policy in Illini Bluffs
District 327 to randomly drug test teachers is a first in the greater
Peoria area.

Wednesday's return to classes was canceled over a division between
teachers and the administration, which led to a teachers' strike.

Ray Roskos, a field service director at the Illinois Federation of
Teachers for the Peoria area, said this was an issue he had not
encountered before.

"For certified teachers, I have not seen another contract (involving
random drug testing) and I have 14 school districts in the Peoria
area," Roskos said. "I've talked with other colleagues, and we have
yet to find one. If there is one, we are unaware of it."

Bus drivers are federally mandated to undergo random drug testing.
Non-certified support staff at Illini Bluffs agreed last year to
undergo random drug testing. He said no one has tested positive since
it was implemented.

Other districts are paying close attention to the situation at Illini
Bluffs.

"Our random testing is only for students involved in extracurricular
activities and does not involve any teachers, staff or
administrators," said Dennis McNamara, superintendent at Brimfield.
"Other than that, we do not have a policy in place.

"But if a situation came up that we felt needed addressed, we would
use legal authority rather than collective bargaining. We just don't
have any language in our contract to address that."

Likewise, Metamora has no random testing for its teachers, but does
require new employees to submit to drug screening. But a drug-testing
program for bus drivers has created de facto testing for many teachers
and coaches in District 122.

"We do not have a random drug-testing policy, but do require any new
employee in the district to be tested," said Ken Maurer, recently
retired superintendent in Metamora. "But our bus drivers are tested
annually and randomly, and I think almost all of our coaches have a
bus driver's license because they drive their teams."

Maurer explained that many young teachers/coaches are eager to earn
the extra pay that comes with transporting their teams to athletic
contests, and thus seek the certification necessary to drive a school
vehicle.

Consequently, any coach who drives a school bus/van is subjected to
random testing.

"We're not aware that (drug/alcohol abuse among teachers) is even a
concern," Maurer said. "But if we thought it was, we would go to that
individual and test at our expense. We could do that if we needed to."