LOCAL SCHOOL LEADERS ATTEND ONDCP CONFERENCE

Cherokee County School Superintendent Kay Davis and Federal Programs
Coordinator Jayne Davis recently participated in the White House Office of
National Drug Control Policy Student Drug Testing Summit in Atlanta Ga.
According to Mrs. (Kay) Davis, these conferences were held at four
locations throughout the United States and Atlanta was the most accessible.
They were excited about some of the things they learned and how some of the
ideas can be applied to Cherokee county. "It was a very, very informative
program," said Mrs. Davis. "They told us abut what to do to get ready for
student drug testing, how to set up a student drug testing policy.

They also discussed all the new technology in drug testing today.

What amazed me is hair testing. This method is more expensive.

They said that for people who take drugs, it stays in their hair for 90
days or longer and you can tell from this test what kind of drugs they have
been taking.

I was excited about that technology. There another method in which they can
put patches on their skin and tell from their sweat what kinds of drugs
they have been taking." Mrs. Davis stressed, however, "We don't want to do
this to harm students, we want to be able to help them. If we find out a
student is on drugs, it is not as a punishment, but we want to know how we
can help them with their problem. Because it is a problem and we have a
problem in Cherokee County. For the last two or three years, that has been
one of my goals is to do all I can to get the drugs out of the schools.

I'm hoping to get some of this grant money. It is not available yet, but we
have done our committee work, we've done our surveys and we are two steps
ahead to get this plan implemented. I' m real excited about it." The recent
meeting at the Recreational Outreach Center of Centre First Baptist Church
was an exampled of how the community is becoming more aware and pulling
together in this war on drugs, Mrs. Davis said. She feels the community
will support the school system in seeking these grant funds to implement a
student drug testing program in Cherokee County. "There is $25 million
available and I want Cherokee County to be there with our hand out first,"
said Mrs. Davis. "After I heard about this on television, I wrote all of
our Congressmen the next day and asked for some money.

That's when I got the letter to attend this conference. I was thrilled to
be there.

We had people from all over, New Jersey, Atlanta, Tennessee, Texas,
Mississippi and other areas." While Mrs. Davis attended the legal issues of
drug testing session, Mrs. (Jayne) Davis attended the policy making and
student assisting session.

One of the speakers at the conference was the district attorney from New
Orleans. He represents the Jefferson County Parrish and ared how he does
drug testing there, Mrs. Davis said. They are eager to get started on
seeking some of these funds, Mrs. Davis said. "They will put it on line
when the funds are available," said Mrs. Davis. "We will start getting our
things together to apply for the grant. We are already a step ahead of
other people because we have already started doing a lot of things in
anticipation of getting some student drug testing money.

We just want to help students get rid of their drug addictions and to make
our schools free from drugs."