PENDER MAY DRUG TEST SCHOOL WORKERS

Testing Limited To New Employees; Agenda Includes School Redistricting

Pender County Schools could become the first school district in the
area to drug test all new employees if the Board of Education approves
a proposal at its busy meeting tonight.

The board is also expected to decide whether to continue to allow
out-of-county residents to enroll in its schools and to redistrict its
eastern elementary schools.

"It's pretty jam-packed," said Kenneth Lanier, chairman of the Pender
County school board.

Pender schools currently require pre-employment and random drug
testing of bus drivers and others who operate county-owned vehicles.

But Pender and other local area districts do not drug screen teachers,
principals and other employees who are not in safety-sensitive
categories, unless there is reason for suspicion. Some parents lobbied
to broaden that scope after the heroin overdose of a former Pender
elementary school teacher just before Christmas.

The proposal to be considered tonight does not extend random tests,
but it calls for screening all applicants offered jobs. Mr. Lanier
said he liked the idea of being a local leader in taking the step.

"I don't think we can be too cautious when hiring teachers," said Tom
Roper, vice chairman of the board. "You never know who's applying for
jobs."

The board will also consider how to balance the populations at South
and North Topsail elementary schools in the burgeoning Hampstead area.

Both schools opened in 1998, built to serve about 550 kids each. But
growth in the Surf City and Sloop Point Road areas has propelled North
Topsail's student population far beyond that. The school has about 660
students, up from 590 at the end of the past school year, according to
district figures.

The board has heard two proposals. One would enlarge South Topsail's
district, reassigning 130 to 150 students to the school, and the other
would turn South Topsail into a school for kindergarten through second
grade and North Topsail into a school for third through fifth grades.

Mr. Lanier and Mr. Roper said they favored keeping the schools as full
elementary schools. The K-2/3-5 split would affect more students, Mr.
Roper said.

In a related matter, the board is considering a moratorium on allowing
outside-the-county students in its schools in the face of crowding on
its eastern side. Pender voters are being asked to pass a $51.5
million bond sale to build and renovate schools, including a new $30
million Topsail High, which has the most out-of-county students.

About 1 percent of the more than 7,000 children attending Pender
schools live outside the county. Nearly half of them are exempt from
the debate because they are the children of district employees. The
board recently changed its policy to require all out-of-county
students to pay tuition.

Superintendent Ted Kaniuka said he would recommend that the board stop
admitting any new students from out of the county but allow those
already attending to continue.

Mr. Lanier said he favored that change. "I hate to disrupt a child's
education," he said.