DISTRICT POSTPONES VOTE ON STUDENT DRUG TESTING

Hillsborough Board Seeks More Input Before Vote, Now Feb.
28

HILLSBOROUGH - A Web site survey about a proposed random student
drug-testing policy for the school district drew more than 800
respondents.

So Board of Education members were stunned when only about 20 members
of the public attended a Jan. 3 board meeting where a vote on the
measure was possible. Instead, the board decided to postpone the vote
and continue to solicit public opinion at upcoming board meetings
Jan. 28 and Feb. 8 at Auten Road Intermediate School.

Several board members raised concerns about the plan, which would use
a computer pool to randomly select from among students participating
in athletics, extracurricular activities and school clubs and those
who drive to school. The students would have a mouth swab or urine
screening as part of the testing procedure, which is being modeled
after a 10-year policy at Hunterdon Central Regional High School in
Raritan Township. The students also can be selected more than once.

A vote on the measure is expected Feb. 28, but the board wants to
make sure it hears from as many members of the public as possible
before a final decision is made.

"We need to communicate with the public. This is a very important
issue, and I can't imagine they (members of the public) don't care
about this," board member John Donnadio said. "I think we need to
make an extra effort to get people to come."

If approved, the random drug-testing procedure would be introduced
during the 2008-09 school year.

Board member David Kanaby, chairman of the board's policy committee,
estimated the cost of the random student drug-testing program to be
less than $9,000, or 0.01 percent of the total cost of the 2008-09
school budget.

Kanaby said the policy committee began discussing random student drug
testing about four years ago, but the discussion was revisited last
year after an online board study found that 70 percent of 800 study
participants favored random drug testing.

Superintendent Edward J. Forsthoffer III said Friday that if the
measure is approved, the district would seek federal funding to
implement the program. On Dec. 18, the U.S. Department of Education
announced the availability of $12.75 million in discretionary grants
to fund student drug-testing programs.

However, the application deadline is March 21, prompting school
officials to put their feet on the accelerator to make a decision on
the proposal. Some board members have been opposed to this, including
Donnadio, who favors applying for the funding next year and spending
more time discussing the plan.

Included in the estimated nearly $9,000 cost will be new state
regulations on the measure. In July, a hearing in Trenton among state
Board of Education members, school principals and the Drug-Free
Schools Coalition focused on proposed new rules by the state Board
of Education that would require state-licensed clinical labs to
collect and test urine samples for a variety of recreational drugs.
The state lab tests, which could run up to $60 each, are five times
the $12 swab tests administered by school nurses.

During Thursday's overview of the plan, Kanaby told the public,
"Deciding to random drug test is not about how bad our drug problem
is, but about how much we are willing to do to keep our students from
using drugs."

But at least three board members out of nine have said publicly they
are against the policy because of privacy reasons, as well as stating
the policy violates student constitutional rights under unlawful
searches and seizures. Other board members want more information and
time to review what is being proposed.

During a 2004-05 survey asking Hillsborough High School students if
they ever have taken drugs, fewer than 1 percent admitted to using
heroin. That figure increased slightly by the time the freshman
students reached the senior level, Kanaby said.

Kanaby said about 64 percent of students in ninth grade, 54 percent
in 10th grade, 52 percent in 11th grade and 47 percent in 12th grade
answered the survey because permission slips had to be signed by
parents. That equals about 55 percent of the average student body --
about 2,300 students then at the high school.

Alyssa Fedak, 17, senior class treasurer at the high school, who took
the survey during her freshman year, urged Board of Education members
Thursday to pass the policy.

"Those numbers really do reflect what's going on," Fedak said about
the survey. "Peer pressure is a big deal. They teach you the DARE
program in fifth grade, but it's not enough by the time you get to
high school. If you (Board of Education) were to enforce something
like this, the numbers in Hillsborough will go down."

Heroin use also had been referenced by former township Police Chief
Robert K. Gazaway, on May 9, 2006, during a discussion by the
Township Committee about funding a second high-school drug and
alcohol counselor in the 2006 school budget, after rejection of the
budget by voters. The committee decided to fund the second drug
counseling position at an annual salary of $62,935.

Gazaway had told the committee in 2006 that drug use was on the rise
in Hillsborough.