HEADS WARNED TO TAKE CARE OVER DRUG TESTING IN SCHOOLS

Headteachers were urged today to pay careful attention to Government
guidance on the use of drug testing in schools.

Prime Minister Tony Blair said last month that guidance would be issued
within weeks, giving heads "specifically the power to do random drug
testing within their schools".

The guidance, which was being sent to schools today, did not use the word
"random" in relation to drug testing.

It was put up on the Department for Education and Skills web site for
teachers several days before Mr Blair made his remarks in a newspaper
interview.

The guidance urged heads to take great care before asking the police or
private security firms to conduct searches using sniffer dogs on school
premises.

Pupils whose parents refused consent for their children submit to sniffer
dog searches or urine tests should be removed.

And schools should exercise "extreme caution" before using such methods,
the guidance stressed.

John Dunford, general secretary of the Secondary Heads Association, said:
"I would recommend anybody considering drug testing or the use of sniffer
dogs should read the guidance very carefully and note the warnings given by
the DfES about the difficulties of addressing the drugs problem in this way."