DRUG TESTING IS WRONG WAY TO TEACH STUDENTS RESPONSIBILITY

Columbia Academy headmaster Bill Thrasher seemed offended that an
out-of-town letter writer would be critical of his school's new
drug-testing program for students. He maligned the home of this writer as
being the "drug and murder capital of the world," a harsh and inaccurate
description.

He wonders why the writer did not "call and express his concerns to us in
private?" Seems rather simple - the writer is like me and millions of other
parents who take offense and object to schools which require children to
drop their pants on demand and urinate into a cup in front of witnesses as
a means of demonstrating personal integrity.

We believe that such policy decisions should be discussed in the open to
better expose them for just how offensive and degrading they are to those
who do not wish to have their children abused in this manner.

I have three teens, and if I want to know what drugs they may or may not be
using, I will talk to them myself. Parents who are too cowardly to speak
honestly with their kids about drug use may abdicate their role and support
the school doing their job for them, but not all parents agree with such
cop-out behavior.

Perhaps most astonishing to me was Thrasher's own admission via earlier
news reports in The Herald that, "... He doesn't believe the school has a
serious drug problem, and no students tested positive last year." But
regardless of this, all students are required to provide urine on demand
for a mythical problem?

Here's hoping that the Columbia Academy does not hide this policy when
advertising and promoting their school to future parents and teens. They
should put it on the front page of their marketing brochures, so that those
who wish for the school to do the important job of parenting can recognize
immediately the right place to enroll their children.

Stephen Heath, Clearwater, Fla.