Pot times
Drug-Testing Policy At Alexander Raises Questions About Process
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1091/a02.htmlNewshawk: chip
Pubdate: Thu, 07 Jul 2005 DRUG-TESTING POLICY AT ALEXANDER RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT
PROCESS
Source: Athens News, The (OH)
Copyright: 2005, Athens News
Contact:
news@athensnews.com
Website: http://www.athensnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1603
Author: Robert Rhyan
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05.n1064.a03.html
I appreciated the letter published in your paper on June 29 by Robert Wiley, who
was able to express many of the same thoughts and concerns that I share about
the Alexander School Board's 4-1 vote at their June meeting to implement a
random urine drug-testing policy for students wishing to participate in
extracurricular sports or who wish to obtain a school parking permit.
Briefly, those concerns include:
1 ) Urine tests are a violation of personal privacy and thus a violation of the
Fourth Amendment of our Constitution. 2 ) The possibility exists of
obtaining false-positive urine test results. If this occurs, an innocent
student's future in sports and driving privileges would be jeopardized, and he
or she would suffer untold stress and mental anguish as well. 3. )
The policy seems to indicate that the cost of these tests will be the
responsibility of the persons wishing to obtain parking permits and possibly of
those wishing to participate in extracurricular sports/cheerleading.
This to me was not clear in the policy upon my review of it. The point is
that the school board is not going to pay for these tests, and is thus mandating
a policy that will require the students or parents to come up with another
household budget item in times that most all families are on very tight budgets
already.
What bothers me the most about this entire Alexander drug-testing policy
decision is the swiftness with which it occurred. It started as the brain
child of a few individuals sometime in the latter part of 2004; then showed up
as a presentation by a drug lab in December 2004; then formation of a policy
development committee in early 2005; then to development of a draft policy ( not
sure when this occurred ); then to a final draft policy sometime in May ( my
best guess ); then to the final reading and vote taken at a June board meeting.
To my knowledge, the proposed policy was never printed in the local newspapers;
no public service announcements as to the availability of the policy to be
obtained or reviewed was given; and no mailings were sent out to the parents,
students, teachers or voters of the district as to the policy being considered
by the board.
This failure to inform the voters, parents, students and teachers of the school
district of the proposed drug-testing policy and thereby not allowing them
adequate time for review and comment of an issue of this importance demonstrates
an arrogance and abusive use of the powers vested in these elected officials.
Robert Rhyan
Alexander School District parent
and registered voter
Lee Township
