Federal Funding brings Drug Testing back into schools

The Federal Safe and Drug Free Schools Program, part of the U.S. Department of Education, as once again released funding for the drug testing programs in Mid and High Schools. The program was dropped before the 2004 school year, but from the feedback given from coaches, teachers and parents, it has been reinstated. The program was started in 1997.

The program has several parts. The first part is the patrolling dogs. The trained drug dogs are brought through the schools randomly, and then a choice of classrooms is picked after a school has been chosen. Students are required to leave their bags and other belongings in the class and are then directed outside the classroom while the dogs are inside. The dogs and their handlers are from a private outside agency contracted for the work. If the dog locates drugs in a student’s backpack or desk then that student will be dealt with through disciplinary action. Currently this action is reported to be a suspension of up to 5 days, though the student could be expelled. The drug-sniffing dogs are also brought through the school parking lots.

The dogs presence on the school is mainly as a deterrent. They are highly trained and difficult to hide from. While a purse or jacket may hide items from sight, they rarely help with the dogs sense of smell. Having them on school grounds gives students another reason to say no to drugs on campus.

The other level of the program is random drug testing of students evolved in school sports. This will extend not only to the players, but also cheerleaders. Athletes will be selected two days a week. If chosen the student will be required to submit a urine sample to the school nurse, who will then process the sample through an outside medical lab. The labs are instructed to test for up to 5 separate types of drugs and steroids.

Students found to be under the influence of drugs, alcohol or steroids will be suspended from competitions and games for five days for the first offense and possibly up to 45 days for a second offense.

Counseling will also be required for offenders for both the student and their parents. For the first offense this counseling will be paid for by the school district. Second offender parents will be required to pay for the counseling.

The program costs between $15,000 and $16,000.00 per year of federal funding grants for drug free schools. In 2004 the programs were stopped because of this cost, though this was not advertised to the students for obvious reasons. The program is designed as a deterrent, not a solution for the drug problems in schools. Knowing that the dogs are on the campus, going through classrooms and the parking lot however has proved to be an effective deterrent to bringing drugs to school.

In Carlsbad the program will be started in August, with the new school year.

Posted by Glenn Hefley in Example-News Story