West Platte to drug test students

West Platte to drug test studentsPolicy passes 4-3, Board president says it sends wrong message

Jason Lawrence

Citizen Staff

A highly controversial decision, that has roots over one year old, has finally been settled, albeit by a split vote. The West Platte Board of Education voted 4-3 last week to approve a random student drug testing policy for students involved in Missouri State High School Activities Association events, locally determined extracurricular activities or who park in the West Platte High School parking lot.

From my perspective, this policy has been in place in the last two districts Ive worked in over the last eight years Ive seen it work, I believe in it and I believe its a good thing for kids overall, Superintendent Dr. Jerrod Wheeler said.

Voting for the drug policy were Board Vice President Pat Roberts, Aaron Johnson, Lynn Collison and Justin Webb. Voting against it were Board President John Collier, Donald Wilson and Jeff Vandel.

Random drug testing sends the wrong message, Collier said. Part of the education process, especially of the high school students, is interaction and gaining trust and respect. Testing takes away an important aspect of this relationship.

The testing policy was originally discussed last year at meetings with parents by the Board members and brought up again at the Boards summer retreat in June.

This issue is not new at West Platte, Collier said. It has been discussed many times, including by previous administrations and even during the interview process for the current superintendent position. Dr. Wheeler has done exactly what was asked of him by the current board he gathered information and has submitted a proposed drug testing policy.

A public hearing last month on the topic elicited mixed results and the conversation did not stop there. Three parents and six of the seven boards members had something to say on the topic at last Wednesdays meeting.

One thing is for sure, we found out that our community is very passionate and very engaged and interested in this topic, so it is a decision that has been very heavily weighed out, Wheeler said. I want to commend the job of the Board for the level of concern and consideration that youve put into your decision.

The student drug testing policy goes into effect Oct. 17 and is also the deadline for students to opt into the pool. The first tests will be administered Nov. 2, and is the only test date that will be publicized. An additional five tests will take place during the spring semester.

Personally, I believe that this policy will make a difference to some students, Johnson said. I dont know who and I dont know how many, but my hope is this policy in conjunction with whatever we think we can do to make the problem better will be a step in the right direction.

A sponsor, Kiewit, was also found for the program. Wheeler said a Kiewit (construction, mining and engineering company) employee and parent of a West Platte student, who is a staunch supporter of this policy, indicated informally last Thursday that she had received approval for sponsorship from her employer and that the company may sponsor the program in full. The program will cost around $200 per month. Wheeler also said that no formal contract has been officially agreed to yet with Kiewit.

Ten students, grades 7-12, will be randomly selected by the tester each month and a 12-panel test as well as a synthetic panel testwill be administered. Any student that tests positive would be subject to a 30-day suspension from their activities or a 15-day suspension to go along with the successful enrollment in and completion of an approved substance abuse program.

A second positive test would result in a 60-day suspension from activities and a third positive would result in a 365-day suspension. A fourth positive would constitute a suspension from activities that lasts the remainder of a students career at West Platte.

An alternative first offense was proposed, that consisted of completing 60 hours of community service in addition to a conference with parents, but when Johnson made the motion to approve the policy, he amended the policy to eliminate the alternate first offense.

First of all, it wasnt included in any of the policies I reviewed, Johnson said. More importantly, I believe that it weakens the policy to the extent that the motivating factor for children is to continue participating in the activity that theyre interested in and we remove that as a consequence. That lessens the motivation of the child to comply. It lessens the concern of the child of ever being caught. If all they have to endure is a stern lecture from their parents and some community service, I think many students would say, No big deal, Ill take my chances.

Vandel did not agree with eliminating the alternative consequence as he supported giving parents a chance to intervene and parent their children.

The one thing that kind of concerns me about this policy is we dont have a drug education or substance abuse education component to go with it, Vandel said. I think we need something in place to address whats going on here. But as I look at the policy is keeping them away from football for 30 days gonna keep them away from drugs more so than some counseling or drug education or a combination of some of that? It just seems like the current policy where we remove them from their activity is just a punishment without education. Were trying to publicly humiliate these kids into not doing drugs and I think thats the wrong way to go.

The biggest issue Board members saw with the policy is that there is no education or treatment involved as part of it, although Wheeler said he will be looking into a drug education program to go along with the newly implemented policy.

The core focus of this Board is education, Collier said. I argue that as punitive and disciplinarian in nature as this policy is, while it is part of the education process, adopting this policy relays guilty until proven innocent. We have no other educational avenues in place. This is an all or nothing policy. If you test positive, it is up to you to get yourself better and educate yourself outside of this district.

Johnson also added a paragraph to the policy which allowed for a student that tested positive to be non-randomly tested by administration for the remainder of their participation in covered activities for 365 days, which he said he found in the recently-adopted Maryville R-II School District policy.

I agree with everyone who says the goal is not to punish, the goal is to help kids clean up their lives and I think that step would take us a long way in that direction, Johnson said.

Currently, there is also a policy in place that allows for students to be tested if there is suspicion of drug use.

Since the Board was split on the issue, Wheeler would like to revisit the issue again within six months to a year and evaluate if the program is working or not and either ratify the policy or eliminate it.

In addition to the policy being adopted, the Board proposed the idea of the District hiring a school resource officer to assist with identifying students, faculty and staff that may be under the influence, in addition to assisting students as a resource and explaining the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse to students.

I am in favor of the school resource officer, Wilson said. I think this is a program that we should institute. It all depends on the person you choose, to what the mission is. I think No. 1, the person is available to all students all the time. You have a person that is able to detect if persons within our school are under the influence of drugs or alcohol students or teachers. Weve had issues with this in the past and I think a person with this training on staff would be very valuable.

Wheeler said he will have a presentation for the Board regarding a school resource officer at the Oct. 18 Board of Education meeting.