VALID WORRY ABOUT DRUG-TESTING PLAN

Schools Are Equipped To Do Some Things And Not Equipped To Do Others.

Fort Wayne Community Schools board members are right to be cautious about a
new drug-testing plan from Superintendent Thomas Fowler-Finn. There's one
fairly good reason for the caution, which board members seem well aware of,
and a very good reason they might not have even considered.

Fowler-Finn wants to test students at school at their parents' request.
Hair samples would be taken from a child at school in the parents'
presence, with the strand sent to an independent lab for testing. The
results would be given to the parents, who could then decide whether they
would share the information with school officials. The superintendent says
the plan will help parents who feel they have students they can't control.

Board members correctly worry about the issue of student privacy if the
plan is implemented.

That's not an awfully strong issue, but it is valid. There is already
precedent for not granting students as much privacy as adults enjoy in the
world at large, with such intrusions as drug-sniffing dogs and locker
searches-on-demand. But this does take the intrusions one step further. And
some parents, as board members suggest, might not fully appreciate the
consequences of their requests; if they do decide to share the results, it
could mean anything from a school suspension to police action for their
children.

A much better reason to question the drug policy is that it would give FWCS
personnel yet one more duty to perform that takes time away from the
education mission. People who are already worried about feeding students
and providing them with everything from nursing to social work would have
to add to their already demanding role as police officers. Will it get to
the point where there's barely enough time for a math or English class
sometime during the day?

Public schools faced with increasing competition from charters and private
schools correctly complain that those schools have the big advantage of not
being burdened with a lot of rules and regulations and duties that always
seem to take precedence over the classroom. Is the way to change that
really to fight those alternative schools, or is it to give public schools
the same chance to achieve their basic mission?

Schools are equipped to do some things and not equipped to do others.
Parents should demand a commitment to quality education from their
children's teachers. If they have worries about drug use, there are places
and ways with which to address those concerns.

Fowler-Finn is right that schools should let parents know they support them
in all their efforts, including ones to keep their children drug free.

But the best weapon teachers and administrators can provide for such
efforts is to make sure students leave their schools with as much relevant
knowledge as possible and the mental acuity to make use of it.