SCHOOL DISTRICTS EYE DRUG TESTING

Bethlehem and Easton are considering plans for new
employees.

Getting a teaching job in the Bethlehem and Easton area school
districts may soon require one more test.

A drug test.

Both districts are considering new policies to screen prospective
professional employees for substance abuse problems.

Easton will discuss a proposed policy during a school board meeting
at 7:30 p.m. today.

Acting Superintendent Joseph Kish said in an e-mail Wednesday that no
district incidents prompted officials to consider the policy.

"A board member has a similar policy at work," Kish said. "They
thought it might be a good discussion item for the Policy
Committee."

If the policies receive board approval later this year, Bethlehem and
Easton would join Northampton Area School District in requiring a
drug test for new hires.

"This is something we've been talking about for a while now,"
Bethlehem Area School Board President Loretta Leeson said Tuesday.
"As times change, we have to change with the times."

Employee testing became an issue across the Lehigh Valley last year
after former Nitschmann Middle School Principal John Acerra was
arrested in February 2007 for trying to sell crystal methamphetamine
in his school office. Acerra, 51, of Allentown is serving a two-to
four-year prison sentence.

Northampton and Palisades School District were two of the first local
districts to discuss screening all employees for drugs following
Acerra's arrest. However, the districts backed off their plans for
current employees because of constitutional and privacy concerns.

Craig Zieger, president of the Bethlehem teachers union, said he does
not have an opinion on the pending policy.

"My understanding is they can probably do this for new employees,
but not current teachers because it would be a violation of their
constitutional rights. We would oppose that."

Bethlehem School Director Craig T. Haytmanek, a surgeon, said most
professions now have drug screening as a condition of employment.
However, random drug testing is still considered a violation of
privacy, including in the medical profession. He said a hospital
needs "just cause" of suspected drug use to force an employee to
take a drug test.

It is not known how many of the state's 501 school districts have
policies dictating pre-employment drug testing, said Steve Robinson,
spokesman for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association. He said his
nonprofit organization, which helps local school boards with policy
and legal decisions, does not track data on drug testing of staff.

"It's something we probably should have," Robinson
said.

John Clark, spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Education
Association, the state's largest teachers union, said talk about
screening all employees has quieted down. He said he is not aware of
any policies being floated to screen existing employees for drugs,
which PSEA opposes.

Clark said he does not know how many districts have instituted
pre-employment drug testing. He said PSEA does not object to school
districts testing new hires for substance abuse problems.

"Our role is to represent those employees who've been hired and are
members of the local association," he said.

The Northampton Area School Board approved its drug testing policy
for new hires in October. The Bethlehem Area School Board's Human
Resources Committee approved the first draft of the drug screening
policy Monday. Easton Area School Board will discuss Thursday night a
"pre-employment drug testing," policy, which is based on two
policies from the Clairton City and Hollidaysburg Area school districts.