SCHOOL DISTRICT HAS NO PLANS FOR DRUG TESTING

Students at Beaufort County schools will not be subject to drug tests to
participate in after-school activities, although a recent Supreme Court
decision said they could. The court ruled June 27 in favor of an Oklahoma
school district's policy that makes all students participating in
after-school activities subject to random "suspicionless" drug testing.

The 5-4 decision has brought the issue to national prominence, but Beaufort
County School District Director of Communications John Williams said the
district has no plans to implement such a policy.

"We have a lot of other priorities at our school district at this time," he
said, "and randomly selecting students for drug testing at this time is not
one of them."

No student has ever been tested by district requirement, Williams said, and
any testing mandate would have to come from the district level.

Drug testing can be expensive and inaccurate, he said, especially the less
costly ones most school districts would use.

"You kind of get what you pay for," Williams said. "The low-cost tests have
tended not to be very accurate, which leads to false accusations. The
accurate screenings cost a lot of money and get more expensive the more
stuff you screen for."

Beaufort High School Athletic Director Jerry Linn said he has mixed
feelings about requiring random drug tests.

"It could take a lot of time to do such a thing," Linn said.

He does not, however, support the use of drugs of any kind in athletics, he
said.

"Anything that enhances or degrades an athlete's ability to perform on
equal ground, just with their natural abilities, is bad," Linn said. "It's
bad for any kind of environment that you're in."

Williams said the district's first concern is for students' health.

"If there was suspicion of drug use, our first calls would be to the school
nurse and the child's parent or guardians," he said.

The district's policy states any student caught in possession of or under
the influence of drugs or alcohol on school grounds or at a school-related
event may be removed immediately from the school premises, suspended and
recommended for expulsion. It also states school or district officials will
inform parents of any offenses, and law enforcement officials may be
contacted under certain circumstances, such as for violent or unsafe behavior.

Williams said the district evaluates the policy annually.

District policy does not allow for any random drug checks, not even for
athletic teams such as football, he said. Drug testing of student athletes
was made legal by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1995.

Linn said if the district implemented a random drug testing policy, it
would probably focus on student athletes.

"The athletes in after-school programs are targeted," he said, "but I think
the district policy is pretty much clear."