Better Rethink That Poppyseed Danish In Your Kid's Lunch

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Posted to Legal on Tue Feb 06, 2007 at 06:24:17 PM EST (promoted by Acefantastik). RSS.

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy is launching a new initiative wherein $6.5M is available in conjunction with the US Department of Education to fund a mix of mandatory and voluntary drug testing of children in the public schools from grades 6 to 12. It appears public schools can't get enough of the ONDCP and their grant money.

The plan has raised many questions about its legality, privacy, parental involvement, scope, student rights, and the education system in general.

As to its legality and effectiveness, Dr. Bertha Madras of the ONDCP stated: "Schools have done it voluntarily without any federal assistance for a number of years since the 1990s. Once the Supreme Court weighed in, then it became more of a formalized procedure on how you do it and how you develop policies. When grants became available in the Department of Education, then there were guidelines on how to do it."

But Jennifer Kearn, from the Drug Policy Alliance countered: "There are model policies that are put out, but there is no legislation or guidelines for schools beyond the Supreme Court decision. [Schools] are not allowed to use the test results in certain ways legally, but in terms of how it is implemented, it varies. For some schools there's no verification on the type of labs they're using so there's a lot of concern that schools are using labs that are not certified or they are using their own staff. No protocol on how schools have to do it exists, so there is concern about schools not knowing what to do, leading to breaches of confidentiality and false positives."

Dr. Madras stated when she goes to schools and talks to students about the new program she has never heard a negative comment from any of the kids--she claims a typical reaction is along the lines of, "We love it! It gives me an excuse not to use at parties because kids are always pushing on us," She further argues that there is no privacy issue because children who test positive and are removed from activities are likely already known to be drug users by all of their peers anyway, and points out that similar programs applied to military enlistees seem to work.

However, there are reports of groups following the ONDCP representatives on their road trips to present opposing viewpoints at public sessions, although in some cases questions could only be submitted in writing in advance.

It remains to be seen how drug testing will occur, if at all, in the future in America's public schools. One thing is for certain: the debate will continue in the foreseeable future.