THERE ARE MANY COMPELLING REASONS WHY ALEX'S DRUG-TESTING POLICY IS BAD

The Alexander School Board recently passed a mandatory drug-testing
policy for all students in the middle and high school who participate
in athletics or cheerleading, or who obtain permits to park on school
property. It may come as a surprise to many parents and community
members to hear that the voting on this controversial issue is
complete and that this is now an official policy of our district. The
policy can be viewed on the Alexander Web site at www.alexanderschools.org.

Although we want Alexander to be a drug-free school, we are opposed
to this new drug-testing policy for a number of reasons:

Even though the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that drug testing of
high-school athletes is legal (Vernonia School District v. Acton
(1995)), it is still an invasion of privacy for the student being
tested and for the parent(s). This is an encroachment on the spirit
of our Fourth Amendment rights, which limit unreasonable search and seizure.

The Alexander community, teachers and administrators did not ask for
this policy. The policy was first proposed by the school board, whose
members are elected to serve the students by providing the best
possible educational opportunities, and to also represent the
community of adults who elected them.

The drug-testing policy will be expensive for the parents, some of
whom already find it difficult to pay for all of the expenses that go
along with participation in sports.

The drug policy will be expensive for the school district, whose
funds could be better spent on the education of our students.

The drug policy breaks down trust between students and teachers or
administrators, at a crucial time in the life of an adolescent.
Forcing students to submit to urine-based drug testing goes against
the fundamental legal premise of presumed innocence. This policy
requires students to repeatedly prove their innocence throughout
their entire middle-school and high-school years.

There has been no clear way proposed to measure the current level of
drug use in the Alexander School District, or to measure the
effectiveness of this policy by monitoring the reduction in drug and
alcohol use as a direct result of this expensive and invasive policy.

We are concerned that now that the policy is in place, steps will be
taken by this school board to make the policy more punitive rather
than focusing on helping students who have a drug problem.

We are concerned with the school district's ability to keep each
individual's test results confidential, even with a signed
confidentiality agreement.

The drug policy will potentially discourage kids who do not have a
drug or alcohol problem from participating in student athletics.

This policy is unfair to any student, but to segregate two groups of
students for drug testing from the remainder of the student body is
even more unfair.

The Alexander School Board does not have a policy of open discussion
as part of the regular school board meetings, making it very
difficult for parents and community members to ask direct questions
or to get any answers to those questions.

Jeannette Keiter

Doug Keiter

Alexander School District parents and alumni