DRUG TESTING PROS AND CONS WEIGHED

County school board members agreed Monday to begin an investigation into
the possibility of developing a student drug testing policy.

The move is the board's first step in what school district officials say
will be a deliberative process, one without a predetermined solution.

"My preference is we study it first, get our information and then make an
informed decision," said school Superintendent Carrell Boyd, in the
board's regular meeting Monday night.

The board approved the formation of a committee to investigate the issue
and provide a report in the spring.

The committee, as Boyd described it, will be led by Assistant
Superintendent Quin Sutton and will include 10 other members: Will Brown,
the school district's health coordinator; CCHS Principal Glen Ringstaff;
CCMS Principal Mike Stevenson, Athletics Director David Barnes; a school
club sponsor; a school board member; a parent; a student; a member of the
community at large; and School Resource Officer Brock Thomas.

Charlie Watson agreed to serve as the board's representative.

"I just think we need real good, solid representation," said Boyd.

As it stands, said Boyd, the only students eligible to be drug tested, if
the district implemented a testing policy, would be those involved in
extracurricular activities.

Many districts are also expanding that to include student drivers, those
who drive themselves to school.

Boyd said he did not like the idea of targeting one particular group of
students.

And there were other concerns as well, as voiced by the superintendent,
board members and Board Attorney Marc Wells.

The type of test to use, ways to screen out legitimately-prescribed
medication, the possibility of a positive test from secondhand exposure
(such as to marijuana smoke), and the proper disciplinary measures to
take if a student tests positive were among several issues raised.

The intricacies of the issue warrant the formation of the committee to
handle research, said the superintendent, who also told the board that
enacting such a policy could have legal repercussions.

"There could be litigation that comes from this that does not mean it's
not a good thing," he said.

One possible advantage of enacting the policy would be that students
subject to testing would have another reason to turn down offers of drugs.

"I think it gives some of our kids an opportunity to say no," said Boyd.
"That's probably the one thing I do like about it."

The question of whether drug testing is a school's responsibility was also
raised. "A lot of the experts feel like it's still a parental issue," said
the superintendent.

The committee will report its findings to the board sometime in the
spring, but the board declined to set a specific timetable, to allow the
committee what time it needed to thoroughly research the issue.