SCHOOL DISTRICT PLANS DRUG TESTS FOR FUTURE WORKERS

The Natrona County School District is moving forward with a new
drug-testing policy for potential employees.

After months of debate, the school board on Monday heard a first
reading of a new policy that would require a new hire to undergo a
five-panel urine test for illegal drugs, as well as a breath test for
alcohol, before being approved for hire. The policy is scheduled for
a second reading and vote Feb. 13. If approved, it would go into
effect this fall.

The policy proposal coincides with community-wide efforts to increase
employee drug testing, as well as efforts by at least two other
Wyoming school districts -- Campbell 1 and Sweetwater 2 -- to
implement drug screening for teachers and other school workers.
However, the proposal has drawn fire from local school employee
groups, who claim that the policy could violate privacy rights.

The new policy would not affect current employees, though some
already are screened based on their positions in high-risk jobs, and
the district already conducts tests when there is reasonable
suspicion of an employee's possible drug problems. The new policy
would add pre-employment drug screening, meaning that any applicant
would have to be tested between the time of being offered a job and
actually starting work.

The district would contract with an independent, third-party medical
facility to conduct a split sample urinalysis test. Urinalysis tests
for drug use between one and five days prior to the test. The split
sample would allow a positive result to be tested again for accuracy.
A test that proved consistently positive for marijuana, cocaine,
opiates, PCP or amphetamines, including meth, would bar the candidate
from a job in the school district. The policy also would allow the
district to give potential employees a breath test, which would
examine a person's current blood alcohol content.

Casper Police Chief Tom Pagel spoke Monday in favor of the policy,
explaining that about 160 Casper area businesses have started drug
testing employees and that such policies not only can help decrease
local methamphetamine problems, but also send a message that the
community is serious about combating such issues.

However, Alice McNamee, president of the Natrona County Education
Association, has consistently said that the association deems drug
testing by a government entity, like the school district, a violation
of the Constitution. She presented the school board with an
evaluation by the association's legal representation, noting several
possible problems with the policy.

For example, wrote lawyer Patrick Hacker of Cheyenne, government
entities must prove a drug problem exists among employees, not just
the community at large, to implement drug testing.

According to data provided by the district Monday, a total of 52
employees have been required by existing policies to undergo drug
screening in the last five years. One has tested positive. An
additional six employees independently sought help for addiction
problems in 2004, and 10 more asked for assistance in 2005, added
Crystal Mueller, executive director of human resources for the district.

The district employs about 1,900 people.

Hacker also pointed out that the proposed policy would provide an
exception for applicants using medications prescribed by a doctor.
That exception, however, would require a person to provide private
medical information to a potential employer.

Aside from McNamee's statements on behalf of the teachers'
association, though, no one else has publicly spoken out against the
proposed policy.

Community members, parents and school staff have a month to contact
board members with their opinions on the matter, and public comment
will be taken at the policy's second reading Feb. 13, immediately
before a board vote.