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Students At Kelley Face Drug Testing
All students at Bishop Kelley High School will be tested for drug use beginning in the 2008-09 school year.
The school's advisory council and administration recently approved the new policy, which will use hair testing to detect illegal drug use by students.
Principal Alan Weyland said the policy was more than two years in the making.
"This is not something that was done overnight," he said. "I believe the longer we keep kids from using drugs, the better off they're going to be in their adult life."
The test identifies cocaine, marijuana, opiates, methamphetamine, Ecstasy, Eve and phencyclidine, he said.
"The sample of hair that we will be taking will give us a 90-day history of activity in relation to use of a variety of drugs," Weyland said.
Tuition will be raised by $60 to pay for the test, which will be administered once during the fall to all students and randomly throughout the rest of the school year, he said.
The policy is not in response to a problem specific to Bishop Kelley, but to a larger societal issue, he said.
"There is not a high school in this county that doesn't have adolescents with these issues," he said.
Kelli Fitzpatrick, a senior at Bishop Kelley, said she was not against schoolwide testing.
"I thought it was a little drastic to test every student, but if they think it's going to help out. . . . I don't think Kelley has as big a drug problem as it does alcohol, so I don't really know if it's going to be that effective," she said.
Mary Brennan, a drug and alcohol educator at the school, said testing for alcohol is done at special school events, but it is not possible to do a longer-term test for alcohol use.
Alcohol education is highlighted during students' sophomore year and is included in Brennan's substance abuse education programs for all students, she said.
"I tell parents that actually, the World Health OrganizaBalance = 30.0 pts tion considers alcohol to be the most dangerous drug," Brennan said. "We're really fighting -- it's really a communitywide, systemic problem."
Weyland said that only he and the dean of students will know which students test positive for drugs and that getting treatment for a substance abuse problem will be the main response.
"We're not trying to catch anybody. If this is going to help you get help, and if it's going to work to keep you off of something, then all the better," he said.
But students who have a second positive test for drug use during four years of high school will be asked to leave the school, he said.
Amy Connor, a parent at the school, supports the policy, she said.
"I figure that they have done quite a bit of research to make sure that this is the good and right thing to do," she said. "I don't have any strong objections to it."
David Cox, a senior, called the test a necessary evil.
"It's just something that students are going to have to deal with. . . . Any student that plays by the rules shouldn't have to worry about it," he said.
passing drug test
if you like this blog, check out passing a drug test
All students at Bishop Kelley High School will be tested for drug use beginning in the 2008-09 school year.
The school's advisory council and administration recently approved the new policy, which will use hair testing to detect illegal drug use by students.
Principal Alan Weyland said the policy was more than two years in the making.
"This is not something that was done overnight," he said. "I believe the longer we keep kids from using drugs, the better off they're going to be in their adult life."
The test identifies cocaine, marijuana, opiates, methamphetamine, Ecstasy, Eve and phencyclidine, he said.
"The sample of hair that we will be taking will give us a 90-day history of activity in relation to use of a variety of drugs," Weyland said.
Tuition will be raised by $60 to pay for the test, which will be administered once during the fall to all students and randomly throughout the rest of the school year, he said.
The policy is not in response to a problem specific to Bishop Kelley, but to a larger societal issue, he said.
"There is not a high school in this county that doesn't have adolescents with these issues," he said.
Kelli Fitzpatrick, a senior at Bishop Kelley, said she was not against schoolwide testing.
"I thought it was a little drastic to test every student, but if they think it's going to help out. . . . I don't think Kelley has as big a drug problem as it does alcohol, so I don't really know if it's going to be that effective," she said.
Mary Brennan, a drug and alcohol educator at the school, said testing for alcohol is done at special school events, but it is not possible to do a longer-term test for alcohol use.
Alcohol education is highlighted during students' sophomore year and is included in Brennan's substance abuse education programs for all students, she said.
"I tell parents that actually, the World Health OrganizaBalance = 30.0 pts tion considers alcohol to be the most dangerous drug," Brennan said. "We're really fighting -- it's really a communitywide, systemic problem."
Weyland said that only he and the dean of students will know which students test positive for drugs and that getting treatment for a substance abuse problem will be the main response.
"We're not trying to catch anybody. If this is going to help you get help, and if it's going to work to keep you off of something, then all the better," he said.
But students who have a second positive test for drug use during four years of high school will be asked to leave the school, he said.
Amy Connor, a parent at the school, supports the policy, she said.
"I figure that they have done quite a bit of research to make sure that this is the good and right thing to do," she said. "I don't have any strong objections to it."
David Cox, a senior, called the test a necessary evil.
"It's just something that students are going to have to deal with. . . . Any student that plays by the rules shouldn't have to worry about it," he said.
passing drug test
if you like this blog, check out passing a drug test