TESTING OF TEACHERS IS LONG OVERDUE

I don't know why teachers think they should be exempted from drug
testing.

If they worked on the mainland, whether as teachers or in some other
capacity for a corporation, drug testing would be a prerequisite of
being hired.

The mainland corporation I worked for not only required a drug test
for hiring, it required one if you were injured or had an accident on
the property or in connection with the job.

Frankly, I'd rather put up with that minor inconvenience and have the
peace of mind that I was working in a drug-free environment.

To put the shoe on the other foot, the students in our schools have
nearly no expectation of privacy in these increasingly dangerous days.
On the mainland, open locker searches are becoming the norm, more and
more schools have full-time security officers, and some schools now
require entry through metal detectors.

Random drug testing is only the tip of the iceberg. In days to come,
teachers and other employees, governmental or private sector, will be
seeing mandatory annual drug tests of all employees.

With the recent news of several teachers being arrested on drug
charges, apparently this is a long-overdue requirement.

Bill Martin

Kurtistown, Hawaii