DRUG TESTS FOR NEW HIRES CONSIDERED

The Pender County school board will conduct a random survey of all new
employees to see if required drug testing would scare away future applicants.

At Monday's Board of Education meeting, board members discussed a proposal
to revise the district's 10-year-old drug and alcohol testing policy.

Some parents lobbied to broaden the scope of pre-employment drug screening
after the heroin overdose of a former Pender elementary school teacher just
before Christmas.

Pender schools currently require pre-employment and random drug testing of
bus drivers and others who operate county-owned vehicles. The proposal will
not extend random drug testing to other employees but calls for screening
all applicants offered jobs.

Survey results, which are expected in the next month, will bring the school
board one step closer to becoming the first in the area to require
pre-employment drug testing for anyone that's offered a job.

"It will reassure parents that we have the most qualified staff working
with their children on a day-to-day basis, said Ted Kaniuka, Pender County
Schools superintendent.

Dr. Kaniuka said the district hires about 100 new employees each year. The
pre-employment drug testing will cost about $30,000 to implement.

During the next month, a survey of this year's new Pender school employees
will be conducted to see if a required drug screening would've deterred any
of them from applying for a position, Dr. Kaniuka said.

Changes in Brunswick County Schools' drug testing policy could also be in
the works.

John Michaux, executive director of human resources for Brunswick County
Schools, said the district's human resource committee is investigating the
need for pre-employment drug screening and has incorporated funds in its
2005-06 budget proposal to add it to the district.

"We're charged with being role models for the children, and part of that is
the education component of the curriculum of living healthy lifestyles," he
said. "You have to model what you're teaching."

New Hanover County school officials, however, said there will not be any
changes made to the district's drug and alcohol testing policy in the near
future.

"We feel like everything is fine that's in place," said Jeannette Nichols,
vice chairman of the New Hanover County school board.

Like Pender, Brunswick and New Hanover school districts do not drug screen
teachers or principals unless there is reason for suspicion.

There are procedures in place to deal with behaviors when they manifest in
the workplace. However, there are situations that occur outside of the
workplace that the system may not be privy to, said Sandra Sheridan,
assistant superintendent for human resources for New Hanover County Schools.

Criminal background checks are performed on new hires in New Hanover County
Schools. Later transgressions surface only through self-reporting or
happenstance, such as rumor or media reporting.

New Hanover County teachers are required to acknowledge any criminal
convictions when they renew their licenses every five years.

Felons are not allowed to teach, and misdemeanors are viewed on a
case-by-case basis. But there is no verification of the claims.

In February, Richard McCloud, a 31-year veteran in the New Hanover County
school system, was sentenced to two years in state prison for driving while
impaired, driving with a revoked license and resisting arrest.

Mr. McCloud was suspended from his job as a social studies teacher at Laney
High School after school officials learned he tested positive for cocaine
three times in 2004 while on probation for an earlier drunken driving
conviction.

School officials said they didn't learn of Mr. McCloud's drug use until
media inquires about his failed cocaine tests, which were administered as
part of his probation for driving while impaired, had surfaced.

The Pender County school board plans to further discuss proposed changes in
its policy at its May meeting.

Policy changes in Brunswick County schools could be discussed at the
district's April 27 human resource committee meeting, Mr. Michaux said.