Cincy-area high school institutes random drug testing

[theHandpuppet]

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060721/NEWS0102/607210386

I'm not a parent myself but I have a real problem with this on so many levels!

Milford HS to drug-test
Students in activities, drivers subject to random checks
BY CINDY KRANZ | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

MILFORD - When Milford High School resumes classes Aug. 28, more than half of the 1,900 students will be subject to random drug tests.

The Milford School Board on Thursday approved a policy that requires students participating in any co-curricular (band/chorus) or extracurricular (sports, groups) activities and students who apply for a parking permit to be subject to random drug testing.

No parents or students spoke about the policy at the board meeting.

Board President Carol Ball said the "Just say 'No'" public-service messages of the past are not enough today, when young people are increasingly pressured by others to use or buy drugs.

"We want to give our children another reason to say 'no' that their peers will understand," she said....

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[hobbit709]

1. Before they test the kids

they should test the school board and make the results public.

[acmejack]

4. Leander, TX has been doing this for about three years.

[bullimiami]

6. just wrong.

[eppur_se_muova]

2. Not just wrong, but STUPID. How many false positives will they get...

and how is it going to affect kids knowing they are under suspicion when they didn't do anything wrong?

The rate of false positives is always higher than the labs claim, and they don't claim to be perfect. When you start testing people by the thousands, you are dealing with the statistical CERTAINTY of numerous false positives. Drug testing is NOT the magic bullet -- like any technological "fix", it is imperfect, and poor execution and misuse will bring out all its shortcomings.

Only people who regard all high technology as magic think random drug testing is the solution to anythiing. (No surprise that this first started to get out of control under Saint Ronnie, the fundy Christian who never attended church and consulted pagan astrologers.)

[acmejack]

3. This is so wrong.

They have been doing it in several districts here for a while. Getting away with it, since these are voluntary activities.

[Democrat 4 Ever]

5. That is one of those toss up positions that I could argue on both

sides. I don't like the invasion of privacy to anyone but if it keeps a kid from using drugs how could it be wrong?

Five out of six of my grandkids (one is too young) are involved in sports and extracurricular school activities and they all have had surprise drug tests run during the school year. I don't know how it is decided who gets tested but it is suppose to be completely random - your name is pulled, you get tested. Some names are pulled more often than others just by the "luck" of the draw.

All of them have been tested at one time or another in just the last school year. One of the kids, a third grader (last year, newly minted fourth grade for the upcoming school year) who runs track (she has a high school varsity letter for her last two years in cross country) was checked three times in the last school year. There has never been a suspicion of her (or her sisters) using drugs but now there is no question the child is running clean. Ditto with the rest of the teams.

One of the high school's star baseball players got caught early in this last school year of using drugs. The wrath of Khan hit down upon this kid and he and his parents had to agree to weekly drug tests (and stay clean) to continue playing several sports. The kid graduated in May and then inked a significant contract with a major league baseball team. Now I don't know if the kid will go back to drugs, will ever actually make it on to the field to play but I do know that kid, who wasn't interested in school at all, did get his high school diploma because he was held accountable for his actions. He knew his future lay in sports and not academics and acted appropriately.

Like I said, I really dislike the invasion of privacy, I hate the necessity of having to do it but I do like the idea that if there is a question of drugs it is caught early and treated aggressively.

[hobbit709]

8. The bottom line with drug testing

is the premise of "Guilty until proven innocent". I have a problem with that on constitutional grounds. The percentage of kids having problems with drugs is no higher than the percentage of kids having problems with alcohol 40 or 50 years ago. Note-I said problems not using. to top it all off, the school systems are too cheap to use the more expensive test kits, therefore the false positives percentage is higher. There are easily 3 or 4 dozen legitimate things that will give a a false positive-most of them not even drugs. I used drugs in high school because I was bored shitless and it got me through the day and I still managed to graduate in the top 20% of my class(1968)

[mzteris]

7. how about the faculty and admin?

[MadHound]

9. Carol Ball is lying through her teeth

Either that or she is sadly uninformed. Drug use among teenagers is in decline, and has been since the late '90s.

Frankly I think this is simply more conditioning of future workers. Conditioning them to meekly accept having their privacy violated by "authority" figures in order to participate in sports, or to get a job.

And of course nobody is going to speak out about this, not because they are giving their tacit consent, but because to do so would probably bring retribution down on their children.

This is wrong in so many ways, and what is even worse is how meekly the American public keeps giving away their civil liberties and freedoms. This country and our society is rapidly becoming a shell of its former self.

[noonwitch]

10. I think the school is wrong

the very activities that can help get kids who are using drugs off drugs are closed to them, basically.

On top of that, isn't it expensive to do drug testing? How can schools afford it?

[cigsandcoffee]

11. This is a pretty good point:

"We want to give our children another reason to say 'no' that their peers will understand"


I'm inclined to dislike these ideas, but that is something I hadn't considered. I'd guess one of the toughest aspects of turning down offered drugs is giving a "cool" reason why not.