TRUSTEES LOOK AT DRUG-TEST PROGRAM

Student's Anonymity A Sticking Point

After taking a look at a policy for random voluntary drug testing of
students, Carmel Unified School District trustees are solidifying
guidelines that will be presented for adoption at a meeting Monday night.

The thrust of the guidelines will be to ensure that there is no paper
trail for students who test positive for drugs.

Trustees were concerned about a worst-case scenario in which student
records could be subpoenaed after test results were sent to parents.

The drug-testing program was approved in January and will be
implemented next school year. It will be offered to Carmel High
students and eighth-graders at Carmel Middle School. Parents and
students are required to sign a form to participate.

Trustees postponed a vote last month on the guidelines in order to
clarify questions about how to implement board policy.

Among their concerns was that students' names could be tied to test
results and kept by the drug-analysis company.

Under the contract to be approved Monday, only the company collecting
the data will have results in a form that can be linked to individual
students. That data will be destroyed after 30 days.

Board President Howard Given said parents were concerned that
students might be penalized down the line if their records were
subpoenaed. Trustees didn't think this was fair, he said, because the
program wasn't meant to punish students.

"The whole idea of the thing is that there is no penalty," Given said.

After students are tested at school, their samples will be sent to a
laboratory and tested for drugs such as speed, cocaine, marijuana,
heroin and methamphetamine. Numbers will be assigned to students so
their names won't appear on the samples. Trustees also wanted the
company to test for alcohol.

Originally a rapid screen was going to be performed at school and
tested again at the laboratory. But because trustees want to ensure
accuracy, they want samples tested at the laboratory.

Under the new proposal, parents would receive an initial phone call
instead of a letter from the data-collection agency to let them know
the result. School administrators won't have access to the records or
test results.

Administrators and trustees hope the program will start an open
dialog for families, as well as give students a tool to help them
refuse drugs or alcohol.

The school district is expecting to spend $8,000 to $10,000 for the
initial year. Each test costs about $40 per student.

If you go What:Carmel Unified School District meeting When:5 p.m.
Monday Where:Carmel Middle School library CARMEL UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT