MORGAN COMMITTEE DISCUSSES PLANS FOR STUDENT DRUG TESTING

Superintendent Don Murphy pointed out a course of action Tuesday in an
inaugural meeting of committee studying drug testing for Morgan County Schools.

Murphy gave the committee several areas to study and consider before it
meets again, which he said will be sometime after Labor Day.

a.. Who will be tested. Limestone and Law-rence counties test only athletes
and band. Decatur's plan, if approved when it is considered in August,
would test students involved in competitive extracurricular activities. But
a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision said students involved in all
extracurricular activities can be tested. Murphy said they also must decide
whether to test grades 7-12 or grades 9-12. If only grades 9-12 are tested,
middle school students who compete in high school extracurricular
activities will also be subject.

a.. The percentage of the students that will be involved in the random tests.

a.. How they will test and how much will it cost. Most school systems use
random urine tests because blood tests are too invasive and expensive.
Urine tests cost about $30 per student. According to Director of
Maintenance and Transportation George Crawford, whose bus drivers already
submit to random tests, a new saliva test would be less expensive at about
$10. A positive test is called "inconclusive," and then the subject would
be retested with urine tests to obtain a more complete result.

Murphy estimated the cost to be between $30,000 and $90,000 for the initial
testing of all students participating in extracurricular activities in the
school system. He believes $50,000 for the entire program "would be worth
the money."

a.. Which drugs will included in the test, and whether they want to include
alcohol and tobacco.

a.. Consequences of a positive tests -- How long will students be held out
of an activity, and will they have to participate in rehabilitation? Morgan
County is the latest in the area to consider random drug tests. Murphy said
he wants the committee to study other school system's testing programs. He
said he will fax a copy of these policies, so committee members can study
them for ideas.

The superintendent does not have a timetable for completing and
implementing a proposed drug testing policy. The committee will form a
policy and send the proposal to the policy committee, which will the
recommend it to the school board for final approval.

"When we do it, we want to do it right," Murphy said. "We're not going to
jump on it just because Decatur and Hartselle did it, although I will say
this is something we need to do."