COLLEGE MAY INTRODUCE DRUG TEST

Nelson College students will be drug tested when staff notice their school
performance is dropping, if a proposed drug policy is approved.

Headmaster Salvi Gargiulo said a policy had been prepared to allow targeted
drug tests to be carried out on students.

"It will go before the board of trustees tomorrow night and they just have to
approve it," Mr Gargiulo said.

The board had sought legal advice on drug testing since the idea was raised
last month.

"Basically, the policy says that if a student is mucking around, not working as
hard as he used to, we can have him tested to see if drugs are the reason.

"The legal opinion I had was that you can't just go up to a student and say
`come on, it's your turn'. The tests will be targeted, not random."

The college would have to inform a parent or guardian of the student, but it
would not have to gain their consent.

"If they said no, well they could potentially be removed from the school until
such time as they were prepared to do the test."

He said he anticipated the college might have to use the test once or twice a
term.

"It's not a response to a growing drug problem, it's more a way of setting up a
solid way of eliminating that choice for them."

He hoped the possibility of being tested would be enough to put students off
dabbling with drugs.

"It's also about putting something in place to support parents. We've been
getting a lot of parents who say they'd love to have a device in place. They're
all horrified at the thought of their children experimenting with drugs."

The tests would be for all types of drugs, Mr Gargiulo said.