DRUG TESTS SMACK OF POLITICAL EXPEDIENCY

I'm a Vista homeowner with children who have attended public schools.
I write to share my consternation over the decision by the Vista
Unified School District board to begin random drug testing of students
in extracurricular activities. The board's actions are intrusive and,
ultimately, misguided.

Besides keeping the issue buried in the consent part of the agenda
without documentation, the school board instructed administration to
give minimal notice to parents just days before the second reading and
subsequent adoption by the school board. They chose to overlook the
RBV football team study, which yielded two positives out of 400 tests,
a drug use rate of 0.5 percent. The rationale offered for implementing
now, regardless of community input, is, "We would lose the grant
money." This smacks of political expediency.

Given the serious issues we have as a district when it comes to
student support services, spending time on this program without broad
community input is a poor allocation of limited management resources
and one that does little to improve our community.

Please get back to education.

DAVID GARCIA

Vista