The leaders of tomorrow at Hollister Middle School finished a program on Friday that will help ensure they make better choices in the future. Hollister was able to hold its first Drug Abuse Resistance Program graduation Monday morning for its fifth- and sixth-grade classes. Traditionally, the program is only taught to fifth-grade students, but because Hollister's sixth-graders did not get to participate in the program last year they were invited to do so this year. "Last year, our fifth-graders got passed up," said Middle School Principal Mary Lou Combs. "So, when we set up for this year's fifth-graders, we set it up for the sixth-graders as well, so that no one would get passed up, because I believe this is one of the best drug prevention programs out there." [continues 433 words]
Officials with the Branson School District say that they are already making preparations to begin a random drug-testing program for the upcoming school year. Superintendent Doug Hayter said the policy only has one more hurdle to jump before gaining full approval. "We have sent a copy of the policy to the Missouri School Board Association for final review," Hayter said. "We are planning to implement the policy for this upcoming school year." Hayter said school faculty will begin determining which students will be added to the pool in late July and early August. [continues 290 words]
The Branson School Board Approved A Drug Testing Policy Thursday That Will Affect Hundreds Of Students. The policy, which is planned to begin at the beginning of the 2006-07 school year, is random and will apply to students participating in extracurricular activities. Students who drive to school will also be considered part of the random-drug-testing pool. School Communications Director Brenda Romine said the majority of children 16 and above do drive to school. "Those names of students who park cars on campus will be put into the pool along with those in extracurricular activities and could randomly be drawn," Romine said. [continues 299 words]
While a private St. Louis school draws national attention for its pursuit of being the first high school to require drug tests of all its students, public schools are sking if they should seek adopting similar policies in the future. Several local schools already test students participating in extracurricular activities, but have yet to look into the pros and cons of testing their entire student bodies and the legalities it would possibly entail. I know a lot of people are worried about privacy concerns, but they're telling us it'll be kept confidential," said Tommy Daher, 17, of Manchester, a student at Christian Brothers College High School. I think it's great that we'll be leading the way in this." [continues 629 words]
