PRINCE WILLIAM WON'T DRUG TEST STUDENTS

Prince William County Public Schools has no intention of following
newly passed state guidelines for random student drug testing. The
school division has never randomly tested students without cause and
will maintain its current policy, according to Superintendent Edward
L. Kelly.

The Virginia Department of Education approved guidelines for student
testing on June 23, 2004, nearly a year after the Virginia General
Assembly amended legislation and authorized the enactment of public
school guidelines. School divisions are not required to enact
mandatory testing, and only two have. Prince William County Public
Schools has never randomly tested students and there are no plans to
revamp that policy.

"We don't want to create an atmosphere in our school that makes
students feel that they are in prison or being treated unfairly," said
Kelly.

The guidelines detail several procedures, including establishing
consequences for positive drug test results and explaining that drug
testing is a mandatory requirement for participation in
extracurricular programs. In addition to deterring drug use, the
purpose of the guidelines is to assist school divisions in offering
intervention assistance to students who may have addictions and
provide education about the dangers of drug use. The guidelines state,
for example, that academic penalties should not be imposed for
positive test results only, but the loss of participation privileges
in extracurricular activities should be.

"This is a document that can provide a school division with guidance
on how to construct such a policy and carry it out within accordance
of the law," said Charles Pyle, director of communication for the
Virginia Department of Education. Even so, very few of the state's
school divisions have enacted random drug testing procedures.

Prince William County does not randomly test athletes either,
according to Kelly.

"No, the only time we would drug test students is if something had
occurred in the building and we thought students would be under the
influence. We don't just summarily drug test for that," said Kelly.

Drug testing in schools, a historically controversial issue, became a
subject for debate again in 1995. That year, the United States Supreme
Court upheld the decision of the Vernonia School District, located in
Oregon, to randomly test athletes. The court upheld a similar school
division decision of an Oklahoma School District. Both cases are
referenced in Virginia's new school guidelines.