BOARD REVISITS DRUG TESTS FOR TEACHERS

Drug tests for teachers are still on the agenda for the
Alamance-Burlington Board of Education.

School board members began mulling over the possibility of requiring
teacher applicants to take drug tests during the last school year, at
the same time they were drawing up a random drug-testing

policy for students involved in extracurricular activities. The
school board revisited the topic of testing employees at a retreat
Wednesday, but members asked for more information on what other
school systems are doing and the potential cost of drug tests, before
reaching a decision.

Schools in Forsyth and Mecklenburg counties have required drug tests
as a condition of employment for years.

Whether drugs are really a problem among school system employees is
another consideration, said board member and retired teacher Mary
Alice Hinshaw. "Is it an extensive problem?" she asked. "Just because
business does it doesn't mean we need to."

School board chairman Tom Manning countered that he would like to
pursue drug testing as a condition of employment because other school
systems and businesses are doing it.

"The economic theory is if every institution but yours is doing drug
tests, you are going to end up with all the people who are doing
drugs," Manning said.

The school board has tabled the issue in the past, though members
have discussed whether drug testing government employees could be
considered unconstitutional. An attorney for the school board, Ann
Majestic, said Wednesday that the courts have been divided on testing
government employees. For that reason, she said, no one would be
personally liable in the case of any constitutional challenges to a
drug-testing policy. Majestic added that the courts have been more
sympathetic to testing as a condition of employment than to random
drug testing. But Majestic said that someone could challenge whether
teachers are "safety sensitive" employees who should be subject to
testing. Currently, those who drive school-system vehicles, including
Superintendent Jim Merrill and the bus drivers, undergo random drug
tests. Merrill also said that 10 or 12 teachers and other school
employees are asked to take drug tests every year because of
suspicious behavior. Merrill said he could approach law enforcement
about the possibility of contributing some funds seized during drug
busts to help pay for testing 250 first-time teachers plus new hires.

The school system budgeted $25,000 to pay for random drug testing of
students this school year. Merrill did not have an estimate on what
it would cost to test employees, but said he would gather more
information by the board's meeting in mid-March.

The board could consider requiring new coaches to take drug tests or
requiring substitute teachers to take a drug test in order to work in
Alamance-Burlington schools next school year. Both would add to the
cost of a new policy.

The school board decided to implement random drug testing of students
involved in extra-curricular activities after an undercover drug
operation in the schools led to the arrest of dozens of students in
February 2004.

A high school physical-education teacher and coach was arrested weeks
later for selling cocaine to a student.