Marijuana Policy Project

Kanawha County school board members unanimously passed a drug-testing policy, but backed away from a policy that would include random drug testing.

Their decision came a week after a Hayes Middle School teacher was pulled over and charged with a DUI, speeding and obstructing.

The teacher's case was not brought up, though, as board members discussed the policy.

Under the policy the board members passed, all employees of the school board system would still be given and subject to a pre-employment drug test, a for cause test, a missing substance test, a fitness for duty test and return to duty testing.

Only safety-sensitive employees, though, would be subject to promotion and transfer testing.

Principals, assistant principals, counselors, teachers, substitute teachers, aides, child care workers, coaches and anyone who may independently supervise students are not considered safety-sensitive and would not be tested at random.

Safety-sensitive employees include bus drivers, mechanics, school nurses, any itinerant employee who regularly or routinely drives his or her own vehicle on school business more than an average of 10 miles per week and any other person who volunteers to be subject to the policy.

Board member Bill Raglin proposed the changes, saying he wanted something that would hold up to legal muster.

"I'm trying to craft a position where we can get a policy that meets the courts' requirements," he said. "I'm trying to do what the legal courts tell me is defensible. If I could write a policy and if I were the Supreme Court, I'd write a policy that includes everybody. Safety sensitive cannot be stretched to the point some people would like it."

Board President Jim Crawford agreed.

"I would have total random testing if I had my way in court," he said. "This is the best we can get at the time. I don't want to spend Kanawha County School's money on this. If we've got any extra money, I want to give the teachers a raise."

But Board member Pete Thaw said without random testing, the policy is nearly useless.

"I think this is a sham," he said. "We have gutted this policy."

He added that he voted for the policy because he can't vote against any drug-testing policy that would provide added protection for schools.

Both Fred Albert, president of the Kanawha chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, and Dinah Adkins, co-president of the Kanawha County Education Association, said the amended policy unfairly singles out itinerant employees.

But Jim Withrow, legal counsel for Kanawha County schools, said since the school board is responsible for their actions while they're in the scope of their employment, they are responsible for anything that happens while they are driving.

Adkins and Albert added other reasons they are against the policy.

"AFT has always opposed a drug-testing policy," Albert said. "We feel the money could be better used in the classroom."

The amended policy comes nearly one week after a Hayes Middle School teacher was pulled over and charged with a DUI, speeding and obstructing.

Suzette C. Harich, 53, of Hurricane, was pulled over Dec. 7 when a police officer saw her going 64 mph in a 55 mph zone on U.S. 60 in Hurricane, according to a criminal complaint filed in Kanawha Magistrate Court.

When the Putnam County Sheriff's deputy pulled her over, he noticed she had red eyes, slurred speech and the odor of alcohol coming from her breath. He also noticed an open beer behind her driver's seat, according to the complaint.

He asked her if she had been drinking and she said she had been, according to the complaint.

She failed three tests — the MGN, one leg stand and the walk and turn, according to the complaint.

She did pass a Breathalyzer test with a .006, according to the complaint.

She then told the deputy she had taken a Loratab, according to the complaint.

When he decided to arrest her, he removed her from the vehicle with a wrist lock, the complaint stated.