RANDOM DRUG TESTING AT DUNELAND SCHOOLS IS LIKELY

Duneland Schools will consider a plan to bring back a controversial random
drug testing policy at its meeting Monday.

Superintendent Dirk Baer said reactivating drug testing was on the school
district's radar before community meetings last week regarding illicit drug
use.

Criticism that the school is not doing enough for the community's youth on
the drug front are unfounded, Baer said.

"The schools are the one entity that have never denied there's a drug issue
in Duneland," Baer said. "People are uninformed or are unwilling to
recognize the school has been dealing with the issue."

"I thought we took some unfair shots from the quotations that I read in the
paper," Baer said. "We really feel like we have not ignored the drug
situation."

Baer said he met with Chesterton Town Council members for two hours before
last week's community anti-drug meeting.

The school has a zero tolerance drug policy in place, Baer said. The
20-year-old Positive Life Program, or PLP, targets students who may be
struggling with smoking, alcohol or drug abuse.

In the past, the school has also utilized techniques like drug-sniffing
dogs and random drug testing for students involved in extracurricular
activities.

The latter was one of the more controversial programs. The school district
stopped it after a year-and-a-half because random drug testing was
challenged in the courts.

Now that the issue has been resolved, the school district may take up the
policy once more, Baer said.

There's the possibility it may be expanded to include drug testing for
students who drive to school, he said.

The random drug testing issue will be open to general discussion by the
board at Monday's 6 p.m. meeting at the instructional materials center in
Chesterton.

Overdosing deaths of students on heroin has lent the drug abuse issue an
air of immediacy, Baer said.

"We had one recently. I think it brought it to the forefront," Baer said.
"I do sense that this issue of heroin addiction in particular has become a
much bigger (issue) than it was."

While the school district examines its policies, the Duneland community is
still searching for some answers.

Both the Porter and Chesterton town councils attempted to address the drug
issue last week.

Ideas ranging from a door-to-door anti-drug campaign to expanding
neighborhood watch programs have been suggested.

And while everyone seems to agree that more needs to be done, at the
moment, the next step seems unclear.

"The Porter Council has not discussed that - what the next step should be,"
said Jennifer Granat, Porter Town Council president.

"It's really preliminary right now," she said. "I think the best approach
will be very slow, very methodical."

People are anxious to discuss the issue, but she needs to research and
educate herself on it before educating others, Granat said.

Mike Bannon, Chesterton Town Council member, said that the next meeting has
not yet been scheduled. He too, said the community's anti-drug efforts were
in preliminary stages.

"No decisions have been made (on) next steps at this point," Bannon said.
"We're still gathering information at this point."

Paul Childress, Porter Town Council member, said he believes a mixture of
both community and regional steps are warranted.

"The town of Porter has some positive steps to take as a town," he said.
"And then we have steps we believe the Duneland community could take on the
issue."

"I believe there'll be a positive action plan that will come out of this.
Will it happen next week? No, it won't," Childress said.

"This will be years and years of effort before this problem is solved," he
said. "And it may never be solved."