Pubdate: Tue, 02 Oct 2012
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA)
Copyright: 2012 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Contact: http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/letters/sendletter.html
Website: http://www.ajc.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/28
Authors: Darel Burnette II, Jeffry Scott
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)

STUDENTS, STAFF FACING DRUG TESTS

Woodward Signals Growing Concern About Private-School Culture.

Starting next fall high school students at Woodward Academy in 
College Park will be expected to pass more than math, English and 
science courses if they plan to stay in school. They'll also be 
subjected to random drug tests.

The elite private school where tuition is $21,950 a year will start 
random drug testing students in grades nine through 12 next fall. 
School President Stuart Gulley said the testing will be done not 
because there's hard evidence of drug abuse at the school but because 
of a "large number of anecdotal accounts of drug use not just at 
Woodward, but throughout metro Atlanta."

Students will be randomly selected and tested. The goal is to test 40 
percent of the approximately 1,000 students at the academy's high 
school level by the end of the year. Teachers and administrators - 
including Gulley - will also be randomly tested.

The most recent annual student survey on high school drug use by the 
National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia 
University shows that drug use is growing at private high schools. 
But a National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Study said 
drug use among teens has stagnated or declined for the past decade.

"There's certainly the impulse to be aggressive about this," said 
Paul Bianchi, the headmaster at The Paideia School, which instead of 
testing for drugs focuses on drug education. "But I think [random 
drug tests] create too much of an adversarial relationship in the 
school between adults and students."

Woodward has no hard evidence of growing drug use by students, said 
Gulley, who can only remember two confirmed cases of students abusing 
drugs in his four years there.

Still, parents have "overwhelmingly" embraced the testing plan, he said.

Suzy Ellis is one of them. "It gives students another opportunity to 
say 'no' to the peer pressure around them these days to do drugs," 
said Ellis, whose daughter is a senior at the school. "They can say 
'no' because my school tests for drugs and my parents might find out."

Woodward says about half a dozen parents, such as Boyd Johnson, have 
questioned the testing. Johnson calls it an intrusion on "personal 
privacy rights and the parental role."

"It's almost guilty until proven innocent," he said. "I think the 
school needs to be teaching the importance of privacy rights instead 
of having random drug testing."

Woodward officials explained the drug testing program during six 
forums in September that were attended by about 150 parents. They 
reassured parents that if a student flunks the urine test the student 
will not be expelled, but rather will go through a process that could 
include a medical exam and community service. Only after a second 
offense will the student be given the option to withdraw or be dismissed.

The tests, which will detect illegal and prescription drugs but not 
alcohol, will be administered about every two weeks. The results will 
be reported only to parents and the school's administration.

An outside firm, SPEC Group Inc., will do the testing. It also has 
done testing and analysis for The Wesleyan School in Norcross for the 
past four years.

Wesleyan Athletic Director Marc Khedouri adopted the random testing 
policy at the school when he was dean of students. He said it has 
reduced drug problems at Wesleyan and not hurt enrollment.

"We've probably talked to five or six other schools that are in the 
process of considering adopting a random testing policy," he said. 
"Woodward isn't the only one. There will be others."

Like Paideia, some other private schools - including The Lovett 
School and Holy Innocents' Episcopal School - are stressing drug 
education over testing.

At The Lovett School, for example, seventh-graders' parents must 
complete a course where they are given tools on how to prevent their 
child from taking drugs.

At Holy Innocents', students are required to have drug awareness 
classes along with their health courses.

The schools only test a student if there's a strong suspicion that he 
has used drugs.

"You're not educating the student's best self" when he is taking 
drugs, said Bianchi, Paideia's headmaster. "... That's part of the 
deal that you're going to try hard and grow, academically and in 
personal ways. If you're under the influence ... not everyone is 
entering into a clear-minded contract."

Gerry Weber, a civil liberties lawyer in Atlanta, said "there's a 
very different set of rules for drug testing in public vs. private schools."

"It's more likely to be permissible in the private school setting," 
he said, although private schools may be violating state laws if they 
don't have parental consent before testing a student.

The American Civil Liberties Union has sued public school districts 
in state and federal courts for violating students' civil rights 
through random drug testing. Public schools now have to prove that 
drug use is a danger to students before testing them.

In metro Atlanta, it differs by district. DeKalb and Fulton counties 
don't do any drug testing. Clayton County randomly tests bus drivers, 
and it tests students who are suspected of being under the influence 
of something or who were reported or suspected of having substance 
abuse issues.

Even if legally Woodward has more latitude than public schools to 
enforce random testing than public schools, Johnson said he still 
opposes the policy, making for a tough decision: Should he re-enroll 
his son next year?

"There's a of momentum in the house to do so," Johnson said. "My wife 
is against pulling him out of school, and so is my son. He loves Woodward."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom