PARENTS SIGN PETITION TO OPPOSE DRUG TESTS

Superintendent Receives Signatures, Letter Saying Schools Targeting 'Wrong
Kids'

Anne Lasowski of Conway has obtained a petition with the signatures of 87
people opposed to the random drug-testing policy proposed by the Conway
School District.

Lasowski sent the petition, along with a letter, to Superintendent James
Simmons and school board members.

"I'd like the board to know that there are quite a few parents who, when
drug testing is thoroughly explained to them, agree with me that the policy
should not be implemented," Lasowski said in the letter.

"We didn't sit in front of Kroger or Wal-Mart. This was just a few people
talking one on one with 87 people," she said during a telephone interview.

A proposed drug policy would randomly test students in grades seven through
12 involved in extracurricular activities.

"They're testing the wrong kids," Lasowski maintained. She contends
students who are involved in extracurricular activities, which includes
clubs such as Future Business Leaders of America, often are not the ones
using drugs.

Lasowski said a survey given to Conway students a few years ago confirmed
that many students involved in drugs shy away from adult-supervised activities.

In ninth grade, for instance, 25 percent of the ninth-graders who took the
survey said they had tried marijuana, and of that group, only 8 percent
were in an extracurricular activity.

False positives are a concern, she added, as well as it being
cost-prohibitive to the district to test for a wide variety of drugs.

Lasowski said there are privacy issues.

"I feel it's important for my children to understand their rights. At what
point do we say this is an intrusion of our privacy? Ten years from now,
who knows, maybe AIDS is getting worse, hepatitis is getting worse, and
they (the school) say let's do a gynecological exam" on the female
students. "That's a far-fetched notion, but what's next?"

John Cagle, who signed the petition, agrees with Lasowski about the
invasion of privacy. He has two children who graduated from Conway High School.

"I guess I'm just a child of the '60s ... I just think it's an infringement
on their personal freedoms. It's not fair to the kid, just because he's in
the band, to test him for drugs. Why don't they line the teachers up and
test them? I just wonder where it goes next. The next thing is why don't we
blood test (students) for AIDS?"

Cagle said he spent 23 years in the Army Reserve.

"I have a lot of patriotism and I feel strongly about our personal
freedoms," he said.

Superintendent James Simmons said the Supreme Court has ruled that teachers
cannot be drug tested, only "immediate risk positions." School bus drivers
do undergo random drug testing in the district, he said.

Although she realizes there are "kids who need help" with drug problems,
Lasowski believes the burden should be on parents to make the decision to
drug test.

"My biggest problem with it is, I'm a parent who's involved with my
children. I watch them closely. I ask them questions. As far as the basic,
moral, social upbringing, I still want to be the parent. I don't want the
school to be the parent. It boils down to parental involvement," she said.

At a meeting Thursday, the school board heard comments from four parents
who support drug testing and another patron who represented a group of
pediatricians opposed to the proposed policy.

Simmons said he expects the board to make a decision in the next two to
three weeks.