Pubdate: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 Source: Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) Copyright: 2000 The Sydney Morning Herald Contact: GPO Box 3771, Sydney NSW 2001 Fax: +61-(0)2-9282 3492 Website: http://www.smh.com.au/ Forum: http://forums.fairfax.com.au/ Author: Julia Baird, Education Writer EXCLUSIVE SCHOOLS TELL PARENTS: TAKE YOUR CHILDREN FOR DRUG TESTS Parents of students at a growing number of elite Sydney schools will be forced into testing their children for drugs to prevent them being expelled. Several principals contacted by the Heraldsaid they supported moves by St Andrew's Cathedral School and The King's School, Parramatta, to introduce drug testing and would follow suit if the need arose. The St Andrew's Cathedral School has just begun a year-long trial of drug testing. Its policy provides that when a student is caught with drugs, they will not be expelled if they and their parents agree to a range of measures including drug tests and counselling. The parents will be asked to take the student to their doctor for broad-screen urine tests, which test for a wide range of drugs, and send the results to the school within five days. The principal of St Andrew's, Mr Phillip Heath, said: "If the parents don't agree, there is no future for the child at the school. We couldn't offer the same kind of compassion." The school is going ahead with the trial, despite receiving a letter from the Privacy Commissioner, Mr Chris Puplick, informing it he considers drug testing violates children's right to privacy, and would breach the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Australia is a signatory. Article 16 provides: "No child shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his or her honour or reputation." Mr Puplick said yesterday an exception could be made if the student - not the parents - agreed to the tests. "If the child who is caught says, 'I am prepared to be monitored as long as you don't tell my parents,' I do not object to that." Mr Heath was advised by a lawyer that the school's policy could in certain circumstances be suspended given agreement by all sides about the way forward. "It is not arbitrary or capricious. It's an understanding between school and family about management of a problem," he said. It was important to be realistic about the fact that many young people consider experimenting with drugs to be a rite of passage, and be compassionate. "We are trying to find a model of repentance, restoration and reconciliation in this debate." According to several principals, other schools have begun random drug tests but are refusing to talk about it publicly, to avoid admitting to a drug problem. Mr Heath said he had 'tacit support' from members of the Association of Heads of Independent Schools. The King's School in Parramatta already has random drug testing. Boarders under suspicion are tested - with their parents' permission - by the school's doctor, who sends the test to a pathologist. The families of day-boys are usually asked to get a test done by their doctor. Mr Chris Welsh, head of Oxley College at Bowral, agreed drug tests could be the way forward. "It needs to be seen holistically as part of a broader way of dealing with a complex issue," he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D