Hamilton School District says no to random drug testing students
March 21, 2007
Sussex Sun
The Hamilton School Board has been considering random drug testing of students involved in sports and extracurricular activities.
No action was taken at the board's special study session March 14, but Cooke told the board that the district's administration opposes random drug testing.
She said providing more support to Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse (AODA) programs and prevention services would be more effective than random testing.
"We recommend we not jump to random drug testing our students," Cooke said.
She said she had talked with parent-teacher groups, and they had told her that drug testing is best left to parents.
Denise Dorn Lindberg, the district's public information coordinator, said the School Board will now tell the ad hoc committee studying the issue to look into approaches other than random drug testing.
The committee is made up of several Hamilton administrators and interested parents who approached former Hamilton High School Principal Dave Furrer about the issue.
Lindberg said if the committee does come up with another recommendation, the School Board might consider it when it takes action on the athletics and activities code of conduct.
Hamilton High School Athletics Director Mike Gosz said the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association doesn't require random testing for drugs, including performance enhancers, because of the tests' cost.
Gosz said a five-panel drug test for marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, opiates and PCP at Oconomowoc Memorial Hospital costs $30 per test, and a steroid test costs $300.
School Board member Michael Hyland said student drinking is more of a problem than drug use.
School districts can legally subject a student to a Breathalyzer test, he said, but if the student drank on a Friday or Saturday night, testing the following Monday morning would be moot.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that school districts may perform random drug tests on students involved in sports or extracurricular activities.
Cooke said the problem of student drug use needs to be addressed for all students, not just those who may be randomly tested legally.
"We believe we have to help our students in a better way than have them give up their Fourth Amendment rights," added Cooke.
The U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment protects citizens against "unreasonable searches and seizures" and searches without warrants.
The Hamilton District has a half-time AODA specialist, Kristin Hasbrook, who runs the Get Connected program, which helps parents through their children's adolescent years and offers one-on-one assistance to students who use, or are at risk of using, alcohol or drugs.
Lindberg said the district has no more money for its AODA program right now, and will not have any for future use unless it receives a grant.
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