Pubdate: Sat, 01 Apr 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 SCHOOL PUSH FOR MORE SPOT TESTS More than 30 Anglican schools will be encouraged to follow the lead of St Andrew's Cathedral School if the proposed random drug-testing experiment is successful. An advocate of the procedure, the head of the Anglican Education Commission, Dr Lindsay Stoddart, said Sydney Anglican school principals were considering the school a model. He has written to the Archbishop of Sydney, the Most Rev Harry Goodhew, asking him to discuss drug testing with all Anglican secondary school principals at a coming meeting. He has also put it on the agenda for his meeting with heads of junior schools later this year. He said the church had to be realistic about the fact that marijuana has been a problem in a number of schools. There are 32 Anglican schools in the Sydney diocese, and 48 in NSW. Earlier this week, the principal of St Andrew's Cathedral School, Mr Phillip Heath, said he planned to introduce random testing of students who had been caught with drugs, had admitted to a problem and had the support of their parents to stay at the school, instead of expelling them. The head of the Anglican Schools Corporation, Dr Laurie Scandrett, also supports the scheme. "It is good to be proactive," he said. "Drug use and supply of drugs occurs in schools at different times. No-one is immune or could say 'it doesn't happen in this school'." Dr Scandrett said expulsion should be reserved for the most serious offences. "You can get basically good kids getting expelled for smoking dope," he said. "Identifying the problem and dealing with it is better than an isolated approach." The principal of The King's School, Parramatta, Dr Timothy Hawkes, who already conducts tests on students considered at risk, said a system of random testing was an effective, protective and reassuring measure. "Any headmaster of a secondary school who says there are no drugs at his school is being unrealistic," Dr Hawkes said. "It's endemic, not because it's a school problem, but because it's a society problem." The State Opposition Leader, Mrs Chikarovski, whose daughter attends St Andrew's, said she supported the tests. - --- MAP posted-by: Don Beck