Pubdate: Sat, 19 Feb 2005
Source: Star-News (NC)
Copyright: 2005 Wilmington Morning Star
Contact:  http://www.wilmingtonstar.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/500
Author: Sam Scott, Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Test)

TEST TEACHERS FOR DRUG USE?

Two districts consider screening of new hires, full staff

In December, Blaire Thompson, a former elementary school teacher in
Pender County, was found in a Wilmington motel room, dead of an
apparent heroin overdose.

Last month, Grant Norfleet, a former Chapel Hill principal, pleaded
guilty to larceny, admitting he stole school equipment to fuel a
cocaine addiction.

Next week, Richard McCloud, a Laney High School teacher, has a court
hearing on charges of allegedly violating his probation from a drunken
driving conviction by testing positive for cocaine three times last
year and not completing a drug treatment program.

They might be isolated incidents, but they underscore that educators
aren't immune to drug addiction at the same time two local school
districts are having early discussions about screening employees for
drugs. Currently, school systems in Southeastern North Carolina give
random tests to staff who have a commercial driver's license, such as
bus drivers and coaches, but do not test new hires or current
employees not involved in driving.

There are no plans to change policies, but the issue is on the radar.
On Monday, responding to inquiries from several parents,
Superintendent Ted Kaniuka presented the Pender County school board
with a $30,000 estimate for randomly testing a third of the staff each
year.

In Brunswick County, a proposal to screen potential employees for drug
use will soon head to the school board's human relations committee,
said John Michaux, Brunswick County Schools' director of human relations.

"It's a good, prudent personnel practice to do that kind of thing in
any kind of organization," he said. "We're going to throw it on the
table to review it."

Drug testing is a delicate issue with safety concerns often weighed
against the right to privacy as well as efficacy. Alcohol, which is
perhaps the most abused substance, passes through the system in hours,
according to drug screeners.

Keith Thompson, Blaire Thompson's father, favors testing. His daughter
struggled with a heroin addiction for eight years before her death and
he encourages schools to test their employees, he said.

"I'm an advocate of drug testing anybody," he said. "We certainly need
to do anything we can to deter somebody in a weak moment."

Angela Howe, the mother of three Pender school children, said she has
been pushing for the drug tests since the beginning of the school
year. She favors random tests of teachers.

"You have to have a drug test to slice deli meat," she said. "Teachers
are responsible for handling our children and molding our children."

But drug testing, especially doing so randomly and without reason for
suspicion, arouses concerns. Eddie Davis, the president of the N.C.
Association of Educators, said he could understand drug testing new
hires as a condition of employment. Winston-Salem/Forsyth County
School has done so for more than a decade.

But he couldn't see one or two isolated out-of-school incidences
rising to the level of requiring a blanket approach to drug testing.

With bus drivers, it's a clear safety issue, he said. But that's not
the case with classroom teachers who are not engaged in a potentially
deadly activity such as driving and are surrounded by others who would
notice if they were intoxicated.

Daniel Abrahamson, the director of legal affairs for the Drug Policy
Alliance, which opposes random drug testing of students as ineffective
and corrosive of the trust between educators and students, said
testing teachers would be an expensive solution to a nonexistent dilemma.

"We just don't know of a problem anywhere in the country of teachers
putting themselves or students in danger because of drug use," he said.

Key local leaders have a similar attitude. Tom Roper, vice chairman of
the Pender County school board, said the board's review of the costs
of drug testing was for information only. He did not see the need to
go further, he said.

"I don't think there are any indications that we should be moving in
that direction right now," said Willie Gore, a member of the Brunswick
County school board and of its human relations committee.

Don Hayes, chairman of the New Hanover County school board, said it
had not arisen as a major issue during his time on the board.

School district staff declined to comment on specific cases like Mr.
McCloud's, but Sandra McClain, the assistant superintendent of human
resources, said if staff members had proof an employee was using
illegal drugs, they would move for dismissal.

Mr. McCloud declined comment through his lawyer, James Allard.
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