DRUG TESTING ON TABLE FOR LOCAL STUDENTS

A drug testing policy recently proposed to the Auburn Board of Education
has been tabled for 60 days. The policy, submitted Jan. 13, would require
all students involved in athletics and extracurricular activities and those
parking on campus to consent to be tested for drugs and alcohol.

Students who refused testing would be unable to participate in activities
and lose their rights to on-campus parking.

A task force, created by Auburn City Schools to set policy for the program,
has been working on the project for the past several months.

Auburn City Schools was awarded a $276,836 federal grant for drug testing
and research to evaluate the impact the program will have on reducing drug
use among participants after three years. Only three other schools got such
a grant.

Auburn City Schools was one of four schools to receive a grant.

It met Monday to discuss making changes to the current proposal.

The task force will present the revised policy to the Board Feb. 10.

"The policy is not a done deal," Morgan said. "It is out there for comment
and consideration and whether it is recommended to the Board will reflect
those comments."

Assistant Superintendent Joyce Morgan said the task force is considering a
volunteer drug testing policy for the first year to allow more time for
community input.

"It's a policy in progress," Morgan said. "We need more time and more
information from the community before moving into a full-fledged policy."

The new policy would be similar to Project ID, a current volunteer drug
testing program that rewards seventh and eighth grade students for being
drug-free.

During the year, students who volunteer would be assigned an ID number and
randomly selected for testing.

Feedback on the original proposal has been negative, said Auburn High
School Principal Cathy Long.

"I don't know if they just don't want it or just don't understand, but a
lot of their questions have not been answered yet," Long said.

She said she thinks once policy procedures are clearly defined and details
are in place then more concerns and questions can be answered.

"We certainly are not going to propose something people are against. We are
going to give it a fair consideration," Long said.

Jana Shepherd, a junior at Auburn High School, said she has mixed feelings
about the mandatory policy.

"I think it would be good for people who have a problem (with drugs), but I
really don't think that the drug testing would be random," Shepherd said.

Morgan said although students are suspicious of how random the drug tests
will actually be, targeting specific students is not even a consideration.

"If we have a (random drug testing) program, I'd lay my last nickel on that
it would be random," Morgan said. "I can assure you that it would be the
only kind of program we would have."

Lynda Rainer, public relations and grants director for Auburn City Schools,
said the task force has been looking into different testing policies based
on research that would give students a reason to say no to drugs.

"It's all kind of a safety issue," Rainer said. "We are trying not to make
it punitive. We aren't trying to catch (students), but give them the reason
that they have something to lose."

With the voluntary drug testing policy consequences, if drugs are
confirmed, parents would be notified, but the students academics would not
be impacted. A first infraction would prompt suspension from activities,
but would be required to attend a drug prevention program.

Students charged with a second infraction must complete a drug
rehabilitation program and test negative to any controlled substances
before participating in activities. On a third infraction, the student
would be suspended from activities for the remainder of the school year.