DRUG TESTS PROPOSED FOR SOUTH STUDENTS

Anyone Who Drives To Campus Could Be Picked For Random Search

CHINA GROVE -- Students who park on campus at South Rowan High School
would be subject to random drug and alcohol testing under a policy
proposed to take effect with the 2005-2006 school year.

Under the proposal, any student who buys a parking permit must agree
to possible testing. School officials would randomly select five
parking permit numbers each month and take the students holding them
to a local medical clinic for a urine test.

A student who tests positive for drugs or alcohol would lose the
parking permit for 90 school days under the proposed policy. A letter
sent by the school to parents last week doesn't say what other
consequences the student might face or what would happen if a student
refused the test.

A public meeting to discuss the policy is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday
in the South Rowan High auditorium. The policy will be presented to
the Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education at its March 14 meeting, the
letter said.

The letter said the South Rowan High School Improvement Team
unanimously approved the policy, which it called "an effort to
emphasize the need for students to stay drug free and operate their
motor vehicles safely."

The letter says the proposed policy is modeled after the school's
CHOICES program. Instituted in 1999, it lets students voluntarily sign
up for random drug-and-alcohol testing.

Dr. Ron Turbyfill, South Rowan's principal, signed the letter. He was
out of town Friday and could not be reached for comment. A South Rowan
assistant principal did not return a telephone call, nor did the
teacher who heads the School Improvement Team.

Dr. Bob Heffern, the assistant superintendent who has headed up
efforts to research drug-testing policies for Rowan-Salisbury Schools,
said Turbyfill raised the possibility of a drug-testing policy linked
to parking privileges a couple of months ago.

While he hasn't been directly involved with formulating the policy,
Heffern said, "It would appear to be something that could be legally
done."

Courts have ruled, Heffern pointed out, that while schools can't
randomly test the entire student body, they can require testing of
groups who voluntarily participate in extracurricular activities.

"In some school districts across the country, random testing has been
tied to athletics, students are told when they sign up that a
condition is being subject to random testing," Heffern said. "I think
what Dr. Turbyfill is looking at is using that same logic with respect
to driving privileges."

Arnold Loewy, a professor of law at the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill said applying the court rulings on extracurricular
activities and drug testing to parking permits is "iffy, but I
certainly wouldn't be prepared to say that it wouldn't be upheld."

"It's hard for me to see how there would be a difference between that
and a parking permit," he said of extracurricular activities
rulings. "Suffice it to say it's at least coming close to the border
.in terms of whether it's something you could do."

It's not a new idea. A quick search of the Internet found at least two
school systems, in Texas and Indiana, that had considered linking
parking permits to drug testing in the past several years.

Drug testing is an ongoing issue for Rowan-Salisbury Schools. Last
year, the school board voted down a proposal to pursue random testing
of high school students, but agreed to continue a study.

Heffern said Bill Judge, director of Illinois-based Laws in Hand
Informational Services, will speak to the school board at its April 25
work session. Heffern said Judge is an attorney and consultant on the
laws surrounding random drug and alcohol testing.

The board has also invited anti-drug groups to attend the meeting if
they have relevant information on what works and what doesn't in
curbing student drug and alcohol use, he said.

"I really think the board and staff are interested in taking a look at
all the evidence we can," he said.

One of the issues Judge will discuss with school board members is the
proposed South Rowan parking permit policy, although Heffern said he's
not sure the board has to approve a policy at one school.

Before that meeting, Heffern plans to meet with secondary school
principals to talk about drug testing.

Heffern said he has "mixed feelings" about random drug testing. If
convinced of its use as a deterrent, he said, "then I'd be all in
favor of it.

"On the other hand, there is some body of evidence out there,
research, that suggests random testing schemes are not as effective
you might think," he said.

Even so, the school district is "certainly supporting the school as
they look into this" and if the policy is implemented and proven
successful, Heffern said he could see other high schools adopting it.

"We all do recognize there are very serious problems" with
substance abuse not only locally, but across the nation, Heffern said.
"If it takes a stick of dynamite to solve this problem, somebody's got
to light the fuse."