SCHOOL BOARD TO DISCUSS STUDENT DRUG TESTING

KENNEDALE - School board members tonight are scheduled to consider a
voluntary drug-testing program for high school students.

The board will have to work out financing for the program, which mirrors a
10-year-old Glen Rose school district policy in which more than 90 percent
of students participate.

The meeting is at 6 p.m. in the school administration building, 120 W.
Mansfield Highway.

Trustee Steve Hayes said the possibility of a drug test can provide
incentive for students to stay clean. "This gives them an opportunity to
say, 'No, thank you. I have a legitimate reason not to participate,' " he said.

The board members will discuss funding at a time when the district has
struggled to erase a budget shortfall. They likely will endorse a plan at
the meeting but will conduct public hearings before adopting it, trustees said.

"From a policy standpoint, everybody's pretty much happy with it," Hayes
said. "But the question is, can we afford it?"

Kennedale Superintendent Gary Dugger said Glen Rose spent more than $30,000
on its program last year. Kennedale could control its costs by reducing the
number of times each year that it drug tests its students, Dugger said.

Manpower is another factor. Glen Rose's program requires two employees to
work each testing cycle, in which about 160 students are randomly selected
several times a year. Only six or eight students can be tested each day,
Dugger said.

"They wouldn't be punished for a positive test, the first time at least,"
Hayes said. "It would just be alerting the parents that there could be a
problem."

The Godley school district, where Dugger and Athletic Director Richard
Barrett worked previously, has a mandatory drug testing program for
athletes. Barrett said none tested positive the first year, the 1998-99
school year, although a few did the next year.

"I think it acted as a deterrent," said Barrett, adding that he believes a
voluntary program also could work "if administered properly."

The Kennedale board considered a mandatory policy but ruled it out for now
because issues of constitutionality have not been resolved by the courts.