BRISTOL VIRGINIA SCHOOL BOARD TO GET DRAFT DRUG POLICY AT MARCH 17 MEETING

Bristol Virginia School Board members will get their first look March 17 at
a draft policy that would require drug testing for all students involved in
extracurricular activities. School Superintendent Frank Finan confirmed
Monday that School Board members will then have their first discussion on
the draft -- drawn up at the board's request by School Board Attorney
Joseph Lyle -- since the board discussed the issue in January.

The policy was not on the board's Monday meeting agenda, and Finan said the
draft does not yet represent the board's official position on the matter.

Under the draft policy, any student and his or her parent or guardian would
have to sign a consent to drug testing, including a mandatory initial drug
test, before being eligible to participate in any extracurricular activity.

A random, weekly urine screening arrangement would be established under a
school board-selected drug abuse prevention coordinator, with privacy and
security arrangements to be set up within a testing procedure.

Law enforcement personnel would not be informed of positive test results
under the proposed policy, "absent legal compulsion by valid and binding
subpoena or other legal process, which the school system shall not solicit."

Lyle told the board in January that U.S. Supreme Court decisions in 1995
and 2002 allow the drug testing, not as punishment but for protection of
the student and those around him or her.

The policy also would not prevent the board from using other disciplinary
measures in division policy "when founded upon reasonable belief and
suspicion that the student has participated in illegal drug-related
activities."

A positive drug test, under the draft policy, would result in notification
of the superintendent, the student's parents, and only school personnel
necessary to "implement the discipline and intervention provided for in
this policy."

A first positive test would mean that the student would be placed on 20
days' probation from any extracurricular activity and would be encouraged
to seek treatment and/or counseling.

A second positive result in the same school year or any two consecutive
school years would result in the student being suspended from any
extracurricular activity for that school year and the next year.

If a student gets a third positive test within two consecutive school
years, he or she would be suspended permanently from any extracurricular
activities while enrolled at the school.

In other business, the School Board:

* approved a $162,700 bid by OK Construction to replace windows at Highland
View Elementary School;

* agreed to negotiate a contract with Marion-based Spectrum Design to
provide architectural services as needed for capital projects;

* declared surplus five buses and two automobiles that either were too old,
worn or damaged for further use by the school system;