DRUG TESTING A PRECONDITION TO ATTENDING COLUMBIA ACADEMY

The return to school means nightly homework assignments, the reforging of
bonds between classmates, and, for high school students at Columbia
Academy, the resumption of random drug testing.

Columbia Academy began testing for narcotics last year amid a national
debate over the constitutionality of such tests in public schools. The
private school's effort to prevent drug use among the student body is now a
precondition of enrollment.

"Once you enroll here, you've given us permission to do the testing," said
Columbia Academy President Dr. Bill Thrasher. "It's part of our school
policy now."

Thrasher said he doesn't believe the school has a serious drug problem, and
no students tested positive last year.

"Young people in society today are exposed so easily to drugs," he said.
"We just want to make sure we make preparations to have safeguards against
it if it occurs and make the kids aware that we surely do our testing."

Upper School Headmaster Shirley Smith said the purpose is to help the
students make the right decision when confronted with the opportunity to
use drugs.

"Our whole idea is we want to give them one more reason to say no," she
said. "It gives them a way out when they're tempted to do that."

Smith said students are selected randomly for testing, but not all students
are tested because of the expense, which ranges from $25-45 for each test.

Last year, a private benefactor financed the testing.

Students who test positive are provided counseling, but the consequences of
a positive test result become progressively more serious for each offense.
Thrasher said a student is likely to be expelled if administrators believe
the student helps make drugs accessible to others.

"If it's a situation where we feel like it's in the best interest of the
students involved for them not to be here, we don't hesitate," Thrasher said.

Smith said the focus of the program is not to weed out drug-using students,
but rather to prevent drug use and help those who do use illegal narcotics.

"Our goal is not to crucify a student," she said. "If someone has problems,
our first goal would be to get them some outside counseling depending on
the nature of the problems."

Despite a June 27 Supreme Court ruling that permits school systems to test
students involved in extracurricular activities for drugs, no plans are in
the works for the public school system to begin a drug testing program of
its own.

"The (school) board has discussed it, but at this point in time I don't
think there's any move to initiate that kind of testing system wide," said
Director of Schools Kip Reel.

Reel said testing students for drugs would create economic obligations to
the school system through the costs of implementing the tests and providing
rehabilitation for those who test positive for drugs.

"There is some thinking on the part of school system attorneys and school
system staff that if a public school system tests a student and finds that
student to have drug residue in their body, then that school system is
presented with an obligation to provide that student with treatment," he
said. "On one hand, you have a lot of sensitivity for those kids, but you
don't want to obligate the school system when we have the primary
responsibility for providing academic services to those students."

Reel also said the school system is not prepared to shoulder the extra
costs of testing in an environment where current expenses already are met
with considerable difficulty.

However, a pair of public school systems in the state has found a way to
minimize the cost to the education budget.

The Scott County school system and the Oneida Special School District,
which also is located in Scott County, were able to secure a special price
of $5.50 per test from a local hospital. That fee in turn is funded largely
through private donations to the school, said Oneida Director Mayfield Brown.

Brown said the school systems garnered support for student drug testing
through a massive public relations campaign. School officials and a local
judge had numerous meetings with civic groups and other organizations and
ran public service messages on television. The result was written consent
from 100 percent of the parents.

"It appeared they were trying to hide something if they didn't sign," he
said. "And if you were much of a parent, realistically, I'd think you'd
want your child tested just to keep them in the clear."

The testing began last year, a year ahead of the Supreme Court ruling, and
all students in grades 9-12 are tested without regard to their
participation in extracurricular activities. All the students are tested at
the beginning of the school year and randomly thereafter.

Brown said about seven or eight students are tested twice a week throughout
the school year.

"We have an RN that does the testing with the help of the school personnel,
and we have a counselor then who follows up and works with these kids after
school," he said.

John Vile, a constitutional scholar at Middle Tennessee State University,
said public schools randomly testing all of their students for drugs
amounts to an erosion of 4th Amendment rights.

"I'm worried about a society that can basically pull you aside and give you
a test even though you have not done or anything or appear to have done
anything - just on a random suspicion that maybe you're doing something
wrong," he said. "I certainly don't think that simply showing up at the
school house door should subject you to drug testing."

Vile said private schools that test their students for drugs are on safe
constitutional ground because attendance at these schools is not compulsory.

Brown said he was pleased with the results of the first year of testing and
has no intention of discontinuing the program.

"I would probably release a teacher, just to keep this program," Brown
said. "I think it's that important in keeping (drugs) out of the school."

He also said a number of attorneys in the community have offered to defend
the program in court if necessary.

At Oneida, students who test positive must engage in drug counseling and
education with the school system's drug commissioner and be subject to
repeated drug testing throughout the school year. Subsequent violations
result in the loss of various privileges for increasing periods.

"Of course, there was no punitive action taken (for the first offense)
other than counseling to the student and counseling with parents, and then
the second time it became a little more severe and ... by the time you get
to the fourth time, you're in trouble," Brown said.