ALCOHOL NIXED FROM DRUG POLICY

A proposed drug testing policy for students in the Alamance-Burlington
School System no longer includes alcohol. Brad Evans, an assistant
superintendent, told school board members Wednesday afternoon that testing
for alcohol has been deleted from the proposed policy.

Evans said drug testing companies and school systems that already do drug
testing don't include alcohol in their tests. The policy, if approved by
the school board, would require high school students who participate in
extracurricular activities to submit to random drug testing.

Students who don't participate in those activities would not be affected.
The proposed policy says students would be tested for substances including
cocaine, opiates, marijuana, amphetamines, methamphetamines, barbiturates,
PCP, LSD or other hallucinogenic compounds. The school board could vote on
the policy as early as its next meeting, scheduled for March 21. Students
who used drugs would be subject to a three-month suspension from activities
for a first offense.

The second offense would mean suspension for a year, and the third offense
would mean the student was banned for the rest of high school. Board
members offered little comment during a Wednesday afternoon meeting on
deleting alcohol from the policy. They did, however, discuss com-munity
reaction to the proposed policy. "It's a little hard to decipher what the
thinking is right now," Superintendent Jim Merrill said. He said he's heard
support and opposition to the policy, along with the opinion that students
should only be tested if teachers and staff are tested as well. Merrill
said the students he has talked to support the policy. "They said, 'Bring
it on,'" he said. Tom Manning, the school board's chairman, has said he
would be interested in preemployment drug testing for teachers if the
system felt it were on solid legal ground in requiring the tests. Ann
Majestic, the school board's attorney, said earlier this month she isn't
satisfied that there is sufficient legal precedent for that kind of testing.

Whereas businesses can require the tests, she said, governing bodies would
have to comply with the Fourth Amendment, which forbids "unreasonable
searches." The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld drug testing for students who
participate in sports and other activities. Manning said people who work
with children are in safety-sensitive positions and should be subject to
testing.

He also said he had heard the city of Burlington does drug testing. Aaron
Noble, the city's human resources director, confirmed Wednesday afternoon
the city requires preemployment drug testing for all full-time or permanent
part-time positions, regardless of the nature of the job. Those employees
face only suspicion-based drug testing once on the job, he said. School
board member Mary Alice Hinshaw said she doesn't want the discussion of
potential testing of teachers to distract from pursuing the policy that
would affect students. Manning said he agreed, but wants to keep exploring
whether and how other school systems or governing bodies require drug
testing for employees. School board member Steve Van Pelt said the board
may want to explore the feasibility of testing for steroids in relation to
high school athletes. But he said he would not want that to distract from
the proposed policy.