TASK FORCE SEEKS MORE TIME TO CONSIDER DRUG POLICY

The Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education on Monday moved one step closer to
implementing drug tests in local high schools.

Board members received an update on the student drug-testing task force
from Tim Smith, student services director for the Rowan-Salisbury School
System.

The newly formed task force, which includes 15 members from local schools
and the community, including Smith, who serves as chairman, held its first
meeting Sept. 1.

At its meeting, the team established a meeting schedule, reviewed
information on implementing drug tests and expressed some concerns,
primarily over its timetable.

Smith said the task force is an intelligent group that's devoted to its cause.

"These people have a wide array of expertise with mental health and
substance abuse," he said. "It's a very articulate group with a wealth of
knowledge. They're good resources and they're right here in our community."

But, despite the group's collective knowledge and its twice-monthly
meetings, task force members wanted more time to study the drug-testing
issue and make a recommendation to the board, Smith said.

They'd been scheduled to develop a plan and present it to the board for
approval at its Nov. 14 meeting. Smith said it'd be wise to delay that
presentation to January or February, which would still allow the plan to be
implemented for the 2006-2007 school year.

"This is a very enormous project," he said.

To create a clear, written drug-testing policy, task force members needed
to study information, consult legal counsel and enlist school and community
support, he said.

Task force members also wanted input from the board.

"I think it's very important that a board member hear what they have to
say," Smith said.

Board member Jim Shuping, a longtime proponent of in-school drug testing,
had initially expressed interest in being part of the task force.

He didn't attend the Sept. 1 meeting and said Monday that he wouldn't have
time to be on the team. Instead, Dr. Jim Emerson decided -- somewhat
reluctantly -- to fill the spot.

"My heart is not necessarily there, because I feel like it's sort of
swimming upstream," he said. "But they deserve to have one of us there."

Board members agreed to extend the task force's presentation to its January
work session.

If the board wishes to implement the recommendations for next school year,
it must approve them by February, thus ensuring their inclusion in the
school system's code of conduct.

Board members also suggested that the task force take the public's
suggestions into consideration. Smith said he'd make the task force's Nov.
10 meeting into a public hearing.

The meeting is scheduled for 3 to 5 p.m. Nov. 10 at the school system's
Long Street administrative offices. Smith said he might change the time
from 4 to 6 p.m. to make it easier for the public to attend.

The drug-testing task force has been in the works for months. Its goal is
to establish one or more forms of student drug testing in all of the school
system's high schools by the start of the 2006-2007 school year.

It hopes to collect data to determine the scope and nature of local
schools' drug problem and base its recommendations on that data.

About $25,000 of the school system's 2005-2006 budget has already been set
aside for drug testing; if the programs were implemented for next year,
task force members could lobby for more funding beginning in March.