PARENTS SUPPORT HAWLEY SCHOOL DRUG TESTING

HAWLEY -- Parents voiced their support Monday for a proposal by Hawley
public school officials to randomly drug-test students in extracurricular
activities.

Several even suggested the proposed drug testing doesn't go far enough.

Hawley Independent School District officials announced a tentative plan to
begin testing 25 students a month beginning next school year at a cost of
about $5,000 to the district. The policy is meant to act as a deterrent --
officials have said Hawley's drug and alcohol problem is no different than
any other school district's.

"I know it doesn't solve our community problems, but it's a start," audience
member Weldon Hayes said.

About 60 people came to the forum, one of two scheduled to allow public
input on the policy, which is still in the works. The next forum is
scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Feb. 3 at the Hawley School cafeteria, 800 1st St.

Parents at the meeting expressed concern regarding how to monitor students
not participating in extracurricular activities. Several said students in
extracurricular activities are often the most motivated to avoid drugs in
the first place.

"I do believe this is a Band-Aid," one woman said. "I think this is a
feel-good measure that's not going to do anything."

District officials explained how laws prevent school-wide testing, and asked
for ideas from the audience. Some speakers suggested allowing parents of
children not in extracurricular activities to voluntarily provide their own
consent that their child could be randomly tested.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that public schools can test students
in extracurricular activities for drugs. If Hawley ISD enacts such a policy,
it would likely be the first district to do so in the Region 14 Education
Service Center area, which covers 13 counties including Taylor County.

In December, Hawley trustees approved a timeline to pursue the drug-testing
policy. Administrators hope to have a draft ready by March and a final
reading -- as well as board approval -- by April.

Superintendent Kelly Moore said seventh- through 12th-graders in
extracurricular activities and their parents would have to sign a consent
form at the beginning of the year. The child would be assigned a number, and
an outside drug-testing agency would pick 25 to be tested each month.

Students who test positive will be required to have mandatory counseling
along with their parents and be removed temporarily from extracurricular
activities. Moore addressed privacy concerns by saying only the
superintendent and parents would learn of a child's test results. Speakers,
however, noted that Hawley is small enough that people would notice a
student's absence from an activity.

All parents would be notified if their child was tested, as well as given
the test results.

The question of funding was brought up several times. Parents urged the
board to not cut other school programs to pay for drug testing. District
officials added that the mandatory counseling for students who test positive
and their parents would be funded by grant money.

District officials also said a student's testing positive would not go on
their academic record or affect such things as college applications. Such
information would go in a student's discipline log, which is kept separate.

However, they pointed out, those drug results would be kept from
seventh-grade on.