CARROLL CO. SCHOOLS TO OPEN TUESDAY WITH SOME CHANGES

Next week, Carroll County Schools will open its doors for the first
day of school. While the school is the first public school in the
Courierarea to begin school this year, Superintendent Carroll Yager
said staff and faculty members are already excited about starting the
academic year.

"It has been a quick summer," Yager said. "We're really excited about
the school year."

The school year may have seemed like it started earlier than previous
years, but Yager said this year is actually only a few days earlier
than last year's opening day. Yager attributes the early date to the
state's decision to add two instructional days onto school calendars
throughout the Commonwealth. Kentucky students will now have to attend
187 days of school as compared to the previous year, which had 185
days.

The local school district decided to add its instructional days and
achievement days in the first semester, rather than lengthening the
end of the school year.

"We wanted to put ours in the front end," Yager said.

Student Drug Testing

In addition to the added days, students will notice some changes this
year.

At the middle and high schools, students who participate in
extracurricular activities, that drive and participate athletics will
be subject to drug testing. The students will be entered into a pool
where students will be chosen at random to perform the test at school.

"We are trying to give kids a way to say no," Yager
said.

The Carroll County Board of Education has budgeted $15,000 for testing
program, and the random testing will begin in August, Yager said. With
the amount budgeted, the school could potentially test 750 students.
However, Yager said the district will not be using all the funding
that it set aside for testing this year.

The district will use Forward Edge Associates of Lexington, a
nationwide company that provides companies and school districts with
drug testing. Earlier this year, the company gave a presentation to
the board on how the tests will be conducted.

To begin, the drug testing company will travel to the school district
with test kits and equipment to secure the bathroom where the testing
will take place. A Forward Edge Associates employee with tape down the
sink and the tank of the toilet to prevent students from diluting
their urine sample.

Next, a blue chemical will be added to the toilet water inside the
bowl of the toilet, so if the student tries to use the toilet water,
then the sample will change color. Also, any chemicals in the bathroom
will be temporarily taken out of the testing room to prevent any other
adulterations to the urine.

Once testing begins, each student will be given a sealed test kit that
the student will open to begin the process. The test administrator
will help the student fill out a data form, which includes the correct
spelling of the student's name, the student's identification number,
the student's home telephone number and the student's date of birth.

After the paperwork is finished, the student will go into the bathroom
alone and behind closed doors in order to provide the required amount
of urine for the test. When the student comes out, the test
administrator will check the sample for temperature, color, odor and
foreign objects to ensure the sample has not been altered by the student.

Once the sample is checked, the drug testing company employee will
pour a portion of the provided urine into a smaller bottle while the
student watches. The employee will place a seal over the small bottle
which has the student's identification number on it. The student will
confirm that the seal number matches the number on the form they
filled out earlier.

After the seal is on the bottle and the student confirms the number,
the employee places the bottle and the student's form into a bag. The
bag is then sealed and shipped overnight to a laboratory in Texas.

A certified toxicology lab in Texas will test the student's sample
through a 10-panel drug test. The panel includes tests for marijuana,
amphetamines, opiates and other illegal drugs.

For example, a 1,000 nanograms of marijuana test result can show that
a student regularly uses marijuana. However, LSD and the
hallucinogenic mushrooms are not tested on the student drug testing
panel and are hard to test for because of the nature of the drug.

If a positive result occurs in a student's test, then the toxicology
lab will run a second screening with the student's urine to make sure
the test is positive. The lab will notify the company's medical review
officer, who is a medical doctor, to contact the parent or guardian of
the student.

Once the parent or guardian is contacted, the medical review officer
will ask the parent if the student is on any medications, and if so,
then the medical review officer will ask for the pharmacy
identification number and the pharmacy's phone number. The medical
review officer will confirm whether the student had a prescription for
any legal pharmaceuticals to rule out any positive test results that
could come from a prescribed medication.

If the student does not have a prescription and still has a positive
test, then the drug testing company will contact an authorized person
at the school with the results of the students who tested positive.
The authorized person at the school will then take the results and
follow the procedures of the drug testing policy that the board
established prior to the testing.

No Pass, No Drive

Starting today, students who wish to drive will have to actively
attend school and pass a majority of their classes each semester.

According the law, if a student does not pass four out of six classes
or if the student misses nine days of school that are unexcused, then
the state will deny or revoke the driver's license of the student. Any
absences due to suspension will be counted as unexcused absences.

Therefore, if a student is not passing four of their six classes by
the end of the semester, then the student will have to wait a semester
to improve their grades. While improving their grades, the student
will not be able to drive legally. Once the student passes the
majority of their next semester's classes and have less than nine
unexcused absences, then they will have their license reinstated at
the end of the semester.

The Kentucky Department of Education has been working with the
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to create a Web portal to allow for
electronic communication between the schools and the Division of
Driver's Licensing. The designated school representative will report
the student's information each semester to the Division of Driver's
Licensing. The state division will deny, revoke or reinstate the
student licenses.

Safer Schools

This year, the board has approved measures to make the buildings where
students learn safer.

Yager said improvements have been made to Cartmell Elementary School
and Winn Primary School. Carroll County Middle School will be the next
school to see improvements.

At each school, the public and visitors will be rerouted to the office
only, so office personnel and administrators will be able to see who
is entering and exiting the school.

Carroll County High School was remodeled and renovated recently, so no
improvements will be made to the building this year.