Natchitoches to Test Students for Drugs
Vickie Welborn
June 5, 2008
Shreveport Times
NATCHITOCHES — Natchitoches public schools soon will start randomly testing students for drugs with the help of a grant from the U.S. Education Department.
The system's $175,503 is part of $5.8 million worth of grants the Education Department will award to 49 schools and educational entities in 49 states this year.
Natchitoches is the first Louisiana school system to receive a grant since the department started an annual awards program in 2005. Jefferson Parish received student drug testing grant money during a round of pilot projects in 2003.
Random student drug testing programs test students who opt into the drug testing program with their parents' or guardians' consent; participate in school athletic programs; or engage in competitive, extracurricular, school-sponsored activities.
The programs are community-initiated, confidential, treatment-based and nonpunitive. Since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of school-based, random drug testing of students in 1995 and 2002, the Education Department has awarded more than $40 million to an estimated 140 educational and health entities to develop, implement or expand the program. | 
