HARTSELLE SCHOOL BOARD TO AMEND DRUG POLICY

HARTSELLE - The Hartselle Board of Education will eliminate the section of
its drug-testing policy that gives coaches and sponsors the authority to
punish for positive drug tests.

Superintendent Lee Hartsell said Monday that coaches and sponsors would not
be able to impose penalties beyond what the policy outlines.

School attorney Bill Shinn of Decatur recommended that the board remove the
section. He said punishment should be the same for every student.

The board will also amend the policy to allow the school system to issue
double punishment for students who commit tobacco and alcohol violations
under the code of conduct.

If a baseball player, for example, is caught with a pack of cigarettes in
school in January, he will be required to serve the punishment called for
in the code, and the school system will suspend him from several baseball
games in the spring.

Hartsell said the school system began baseline drug testing this month.

Hartselle has the broadest drug-testing program in the area. The school
system will test middle and high school students who participate in
extracurricular activities.

The U.S. Supreme Court in June cleared the way for Hartselle's broad policy.

Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that testing students who participate in
extracurricular activities is a "reasonable effective means of addressing
the school district's legitimate concerns in preventing, deterring and
detecting drug use."