Some Support Drug Testing In Schools
Lori Higgins
March 8, 2008
Detroit Free Press
Plan Could Start In Fall, Chief Says
Royal Oak
Some parents say they welcome a proposal to voluntarily test their children for drugs, saying the effort will help prevent drug abuse and spark needed conversations about drugs between parents and kids.
The proposal — which Royal Oak Superintendent Thomas Moline intends to present to the Board of Education in May — calls for middle and high school students and their parents to approve random drug testing throughout the school year. Only parents would receive the results.
If approved, testing would begin in the 2008-09 school year. The testing is part of a proposal from the Save Our Youth Task Force, a community group that was formed after the heroin-related deaths of young people in and around Royal Oak in 2005.
"We're not here to play gotcha. We're here to engage the parent and child," said Moline, who also said the district's policy would be the first in the state.
Moline said the program would cost about $12,000 next year. But he expects the expense to be covered by community agencies that have been part of the task force, which he chairs.
Libby Benton, whose son Jake Benton is a sophomore at Royal Oak High School, said she would absolutely sign him up for the program.
But Rana Elmir, communications director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, said random drug testing has been proven ineffective in preventing underage drug use.
"The best way to prevent drug use amongst young people is not through drug testing, but honest and open communication," she said.
There's no guarantee that a child will be picked for testing, but just being on the list will be a deterrent, Moline said. The program would be modeled after one in San Clemente, Calif.
Catherine and Kirk Goddard, whose 19-year-old son Zack died of a drug overdose in April 2006, have been members of the task force since it began and cochair a subcommittee.
Their son began experimenting with drugs in middle school, something the Goddards did not discover until he was in high school.
Catherine Goddard said she thinks a drug testing program might have helped prevent her son's drug abuse.
"We'll never know," she said Friday. "But I can't help but believe it certainly would have opened up more conversations with him." | 
