SCHOOL DISTRICT READY TO MOVE AGAINST DRUGS

Dog Searches, Testing In Works For Clarke's Two High Schools

The Clarke County School District is moving to implement both random
searches by drug dogs, and random drug testing for some students at
district high schools in the new year.

"I feel very positive about it because to say drugs are not at Cedar
Shoals High School is not the truth," said Principal Charles Worthy,
who noted that faculty and parents have not expressed many concerns
about the searches and testing thus far. The first measure
implemented will be random drug dog searches, which Clarke Schools
Superintendent Lewis Holloway said will likely begin soon after
school resumes in January.

Because drug dog searches are an enforcement mechanism and do not
require a school district policy change, the school board does not
have a vote on the measure. Holloway said he has drafted letters to
parents notifying them of the searches, and will send them out around
the start of the new year. Parents, teachers and students will not
know, however, exactly when the drug dogs will be used.

According to Frank Platt, the school district security director,
random drug dog searches have been successful in preventing students
from bringing drugs to high school campuses in other Georgia school
systems.

Platt also said that the searches should not cost the school district
anything. School district officials have been communicating with the
Athens-Clarke County Police Department and the Georgia Emergency
Management Agency about volunteering drug dogs and police officers
for the task.

School district officials are currently discussing whether the dogs
will search only parking lots and lockers, or whether they will also
search backpacks in classrooms after students are asked to leave.

According to Holloway, drug dogs used for searches are passive and
would not come into contact with students, and class interruptions
would not last longer than three minutes.

Worthy and Clarke Central High School Principal Maxine Easom, along
with their respective school security personnel and athletic
directors, have been working on a draft of a random drug testing
procedure that will likely be implemented next fall. While the school
district initially planned on testing only athletes, it will now
likely incorporate students who drive to school.

The policy, which must be voted upon by the school board, spells out
specifics of testing procedure, collection of urine samples,
confidentiality and procedures for dealing with infractions.

The random drug testing will likely cost the school district
approximately $30,000 per year, or about $16 per test, according to
Holloway.

According to board member Jim Ponsoldt, who has mixed feelings about
the proposed measures, a relatively recent U.S. Supreme Court
decision approved drug testing for athletes because drug use puts
them at a safety risk. While the Supreme Court has not been
confronted with random drug testing for those who drive to school,
several school systems around the country employ the method,
reasoning that driving under the influence would also put those
students at a safety risk.

Cedar Shoals Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) co-president Suzanne
Bourgeois, noting that she was speaking as a mother and not as a
representative of the PTO, said she supports drug dog searches and
random drug testing.

"As long as we don't take a stand and do some aggressive things --
like drug dog testing -- we are part of the problem and not part of
the solution."