RANDOM DRUG TESTS COMING TO SCHOOLS

EAST SPENCER -- Members of the Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education took the
first step Monday toward starting a random drug-testing program in the
county's high schools.

They instructed Associate Superintendent Dr. Bob Heffern to return at their
July board meeting with an outline of drug-testing programs the board may
want to consider.

The board's decision came in a unanimous vote.

Included among the programs that Heffern has been asked to investigate are
random testing of students applying for parking permits and random testing
of students involved in any number of extra-curricular activities.

Board members said Monday that they are anxious to make a decision. Time is
important, board members said, if they hope to have some sort of
drug-testing program in place by the start of the 2006-2007 school year.

"It can take months to hammer it out," said Jim Shuping, the board's most
vocal proponent of random drug testing of students.

At Shuping's request, officials added the random drug testing issue to
Monday's monthly board agenda at the last minute. "I just want to see where
the board stands," he said.

Last month, Bill Judge, director of Laws in Hand Informational Services of
Oak Park, Ill., and considered an expert on random drug testing of
students, made a presentation to school board members and local high school
and middle school principals.

Judge told board members that random drug testing of students is legal,
though he said the best such program is one that's voluntary. He suggested
offering rewards -- gasoline cards or first chances at employment -- to
those students who enroll in a random drug testing program.

School administrators said local principals overwhelmingly favor random
drug tests.

"There's strong support on the part of our principals," said Associate
Superintendent Dr. Alan King. "All principals agreed that voluntary, random
tests are the way to go. There's no reason not to move full steam ahead."

He said principals' only reservation about drug testing was the manpower
needed to implement such testing.

"They've got a lot on their plate," King said.

Superintendent Dr. Wiley Doby said he's asked principals to meet with
members of their school improvement teams and return with suggestions on
how random drug tests might best be implemented.

The school system's budget for the coming fiscal year includes $25,000 for
random drug testing, and board members said they hope local civic groups
might pay to sponsor such tests, thus saving the school system the money.

Board members also learned Monday that East Rowan High School may begin in
the next school year a voluntary random drug testing program similar to the
one now used at South Rowan High. At South Rowan, students sign up to
participate in the drug testing program and qualify for benefits and
discounts at local businesses.