HARTSELLE BOARD TO APPOINT NEW DRUG COMMITTEE

HARTSELLE -- The school board here will decide Monday who serves on
the committee that will develop the school system's drug testing
policy.

Superintendent Lee Hartsell said four people, including Councilman
Tom Chappell, have volunteered to serve on the committee. Councilman
Frank Jones added his name to the list at Monday's school board work
session.

City leaders have pushed the school system to establish the policy
since a Hartselle High School baseball player tested positive for
marijuana in March.

Board Chairman Susan Puckett is recommending that the committee be
limited to 12 members.

Hartsell said the committee would answer two major questions: Who
will be tested? What will the punishment be for a positive test?

The superintendent said he has policies from other systems that
primarily test athletes and cheerleaders. The board talked about
increasing the scope to include any student who participates in
competition, including band members.

Hartsell warned the board that testing every student in
extracurricular activities would cost the system thousands of
dollars. He said approximately 500 students participate in athletics.

Mrs. Puckett suggested that the school system look to the City
Council for local funding to help pay the cost of testing.

The board decided to let the committee determine which students the
school system will test.

The final draft of the policy Hartselle adopts will be determined by
a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that is expected in June or July.

Attorneys for Lindsay Earls, who was a junior at Tecumseh High in
Oklahoma in 1999, have asked justices to determine whether public
schools can require drug tests of all students in extracurricular
activities, even if they are not suspected of drug use.