STATES SLOW TO CONSIDER DRUG TESTING TEACHERS

Many states are discussing drug testing of teachers, but few are
actually going ahead with it.

The Kanawha County school system rejected a proposed policy last
spring, but another teacher drug arrest caused the issue to be
resurrected.

Only Hawaii is further along with a teacher drug-testing program,
according to information provided by the National School Boards
Association.

There, random drug testing for employees is a provision in a proposed
new labor contract for teachers. The contract also would include a
hefty pay raise for teachers.

Hawaii's Department of Education and its teacher unions initially
talked of a program under which teachers would be tested only when
there was suspicion of drug use. Then Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle
intervened, urging the required random drug testing and calling it
"non-negotiable."

The testing is expected to start next year, said Greg Knudsen,
spokesman for the Hawaii Department of Education.

Knudsen said officials still must decide if everyone, including
administrators, will be tested. Hawaii, which has just a single,
statewide school district, has about 13,500 teachers and 50,000
employees total. Officials said they haven't yet determined how much
the testing will cost.

Later this month, the Kanawha school board is expected to discuss and
possibly vote on a revised drug-testing policy.

The county already has a drug-testing program for school bus
drivers.

At a meeting in April, board members voted down an expanded program.
Pete Thaw and fellow board member Bill Raglin voted for it, while
members Becky Jordon, Barbara Welch and Jim Crawford voted against
it.

But the recent arrest of another teacher has put the topic back on the
agenda for consideration.

Police charged Michael White, Jr., a physical education teacher at
Cedar Grove Middle School, with possession with intent to deliver
various drugs.

State Police said they pulled over a car driven by White on May 26 to
give the driver a traffic violation.

Troopers said they found several bags of marijuana and cocaine
packaged for sale in White's car. State Police officials said they
then searched the teacher's home and found more drugs.

White was charged with possession with intent to deliver cocaine,
marijuana and two prescription drugs.

Talk of a stricter drug-testing policy in Kanawha County started last
year after Pratt Elementary Principal David Anderson was charged with
cocaine possession in October and was suspended from his job.

Anderson was acquitted by a Kanawha County Magistrate Court jury in
February and returned to his post as principal.

But his arrest was the impetus for the school board to consider
expanding its drug-testing program.

Under the proposed policy, all employees in "safety-sensitive"
positions, including board members and upper-level administrators,
would be subject to random testing.

Often, it is a single incident, such as Anderson's, that initiates
discussion of developing a stricter drug-testing policy, said Lisa
Soronen, senior staff attorney for the National School Boards
Association.

"It's usually sparked by an incident in the school or by an employee,"
Soronen said. "That's the more common experience. But then there's the
question of, is it really a problem or was it just a one-time thing?"

Soronen said she has had considerably more inquiries on employee drug
testing from school board attorneys in recent months.

But in most cases, school systems briefly discuss the idea and leave
it at that, she said.

"They might look into it," she said. "But looking into it is a lot
different than actually deciding to do it and develop a policy.

"It's one of those things that is easy to look at, but hard to decide
how to do it. Because then they think of the expense and the
constitutional issues involved."

In Kanawha County, board members have said they are worried about the
cost.

In Hawaii, school officials have expressed similar
concern.

"It depends on the form of testing, whether it's an oral swab test or
if they use a cup," said Knudsen, of Hawaii's education department.

Then, there's the question of the test's reliability, he
said.

"If it comes up positive, there would have to be a series of
confirmation tests, and those costs could run into the hundreds (of
dollars)," Knudsen said.

A routine, negative test might cost only $15 to $20, he
said.

Like school officials in Hawaii, education leaders in West Virginia
are worried about the possibility of false positives -- and mounting
legal bills.

Jordon commented last month that a false positive on a drug screening
could quickly ruin an employee's reputation.

"It's one of those topics right now that people have a lot of
reservations about," Soronen said.

Kanawha County's drug-testing policy will be discussed at a meeting
July 26.