NINNEKAH BOARD APPROVES DRUG TESTING POLICY

The Ninnekah board of education has a new member.

Jeff McConnell has stepped up to fill the board position that became
open last month when Shane Fitzwater tendered his resignation.

Board President Rusty Garrett said McConnell has had an interest in
becoming a member of the board for several years. Superintendent Todd
Bunch said the new member will fit nicely with the other
personalities on the board and with the direction the school is headed.

McConnell will fill the remainder of Fitzwater's term which will run
out this coming February. At that time, the position will go back to
the voters to decide who will sit on the board next.

McConnell joined the board in time to help decide two new board
policies concerning student safety. Monday night, the Board of
Education adopted a student drug policy and a policy outlining school
security drills.

Principal David Pitts said the drug policy has come as the result of
concerns expressed by students about fellow students taking a range
of illegal drugs from marijuana to steroids.

Pitts said every school has a drug problem even if they don't want to
admit it, and that Ninnekah was no exception.

The district modeled their new policy from policies at Alex, Lindsay
and Tecumseh.

It will require all students enrolled in school activities to pass a
drug screening at the beginning of the year. Throughout the rest of
the year, the district will perform random tests on the group of students.

Pitts said the system is also set up to where a parent can request
that their child be added to the list to be tested.

If a student tests positive for illegal drug use, there is an appeals
process. Following a final determination that the child has been
using illegal drugs, the student must obtain drug counseling and will
be suspended from all school activities for at least ten days.

Pitts said the cost of testing the children will not be much greater
than the loss of state revenue from one child being suspended for the
remainder of the year, the punishment for catching drug use on school property.

The principal said the new policy is not geared toward taking the
child out of the classroom, rather it provides incentive for students
to not take the drugs in the first place.

"If you can catch a kid when they are 12,13 or 14 years old you have
a better chance of fixing the problem than when they are 18, 19 or
20," McConnell said.

The board voted to approve the new policy unanimously.