QUESTIONS ABOUND AROUND NEW DRUG POLICY

BRISTOL, Va. - Virginia High School teacher Sue Judd wants to know where
the School Board will find money for its new comprehensive drug and alcohol
policy.

So does Van Pelt Elementary PTA President Kevin Meade, Virginia High track
coach Lester Byington and Virginia High senior Matt Grimm, among others.

Questions abound about the School Board's newest policy, and a majority
center around where the board will find the estimated $104,000 to implement it.

Even the policy's estimated cost reeks of uncertainty; it might be much
higher or lower in reality.

The School Board approved the 14-page policy, which targets drug
prevention, enforcement and intervention, without designating money to fund
it, much less stating where the money would be found.

And board members don't have much time to find it. Decisions must be made
within the next couple of weeks for the program to become effective next fall.

The board must include money for it in next year's budget, which has to be
sent to the City Council for approval by March 31.

Board Chairman John Kieffer said the board first had to determine what
would be included in the policy before establishing a budget for it. For
example, board members needed to know whether random drug testing would be
included, he said.

"It was a two-step program to define the policy and then to provide funding
for it," he said. "The funding of any program is part of the budget process."

School Superintendant Frank Finan recommended a budget to board members
before they approved the policy. Because of poor economic conditions, he
already had proposed a 1 percent cut to teachers raises, compared to last year.

"There is no room in my existing budget for the bulk of the drug and
alcohol policy," Finan said. "I don't know where the money is going to come
from."

The board has three options, Finan said, either ask the city for more money
or make one of two types of budget cuts.

Finan said he had not decided what areas he would recommend for cutting,
but he said he would have suggestions ready at the next board meeting.

"I would not suggest anything to the press before I met with the board," he
said. "It's not protocol."

But he admitted that coming up with suggestions would be a challenge.

Even more of a challenge will be determining how much money the board needs
to accomplish the policy's goals. The $104,000 the board has been using as
its cost could be incorrect.

"It's not a solid figure, it's just a guess," Finan said.

The figure includes two salaries - one for a program administrator and one
for a drug counselor from Highlands Community Services - and $5,000 for
random drug testing for students involved in extracurricular activities.

Previously, the cost for the Highlands counselor had been estimated at
$50,000, but Finan said he had not talked with agency representatives
recently about the cost.

In addition to the counselor, the board must hire someone to implement the
policy, but it had not decided whether to hire someone full-time or
part-time, someone for 12 months or 10, or whether the person would be a
teacher or administrator.

The price tag would vary based on experience and qualifications. A 10-month
contract teacher with 15 years of experience would cost $49,552, while a
12-month contract administrator with the same experience would cost $78,497.

Some students and parents said they believe the estimated cost is too much
to pay, while others said they believed it was appropriate.

"It's not worth the money," said Grimm, a senior football and baseball
player. "There's just better things to spend our money on. ... At this age,
education isn't going to help. We've had (Drug Abuse Resistance Education)
since elementary school."

Andrea Birchfield, president of the Virginia High PTA, disagreed.

"What's the price of one child?" she asked. "I feel like the kids are worth
it. It is a good policy. It's not a perfect policy. It's addressing a
situation that needs to be addressed."

School Board Vice Chairman Butch Tolley voted against the policy, in part
because of the uncertainty surrounding its funding.

"If you pass something and the funding isn't there, then what's the point
in passing it?" Tolley asked. "Before you do anything, you need to have the
funds in place. That was a huge concern of mine."

While the School Board might be struggling with finding money for the
policy, it has taken a step ahead of many other school systems in creating
it, said Elizabeth Ewing, director of legal and policy services for the
Virginia School Board Association.

"I know that a lot of divisions have been considering them, but I can only
think of three that have (comprehensive drug programs)," she said.

Lynchburg, Clark County and Dickenson County have plans, she said. Pinning
down how much money school systems should devote to their policies depends
on their importance to the schools, she said.

"Anytime any division talks about spending money, they think about it long
and hard," Ewing said. "It is a concern, and that decision is solely up to
each community."

Once someone has been hired to implement the board's program, the policy
provides for him or her to determine how to administer it.

Until then, principals said, they will not know how to implement the policy.

"I don't know what my role is in this, but I will assume whatever role I
need to to make this work," said Ina Danko, principal of Virginia High. "I
really don't know enough about it to make a statement."

Besides principals, many community members have unanswered questions about
the policy.

"The people who I have spoken to who have children in the school system
didn't know about it," said Birchfield, the PTA president. "A lot of people
are clueless about it."

Concerns about its content - particularly random drug testing - also lie
heavily on students' minds.

"If (the board members cared), they would have asked us what we thought,"
said Kayleigh Waugh, a freshman and track team member. "They already voted
on it, and we didn't have a voice in it."

Kieffer, the School Board chairman, said he expected changes to the policy.

"All of our policy is subject to review and revision," he said. "I would be
surprised if there were not some changes made when it comes to its
implementation."

Meanwhile, many parents and students anxiously await answers.

"I still think there are so many unanswered questions," Meade, Van Pelt
Elementary's PTA president, said. "My main concern is that it wasn't
thought through closely enough. I think the way it was handled was kind of
quick."