By Ann Marie Shambaugh
It’s been in the works since 2014, but on March 13 the Zionsville Community Schools board of trustees got its first official look at a random drug testing policy for students at Zionsville Community High School.
The proposed policy requires students who participate in athletics, extracurricular activities or who park on school property to participate in the program. ZCHS Principal Tim East said if the program were active today 1,722 of 1,925 students would be required to sign up to maintain eligibility.
The program is expected to cost between $3,000 to $5,000 annually and will not be funded through state or local tax dollars. District officials said that the vending machine fund or another like it could be used to pay for the program.
The eight-page policy outlines how the program will work, penalties and reasons for implementing the program.
In November the board voted 3-2 to implement a policy beginning in the 2017-2018 school year. At that meeting dozens of parents and educators spoke for and against the idea. On March 13, comments were limited to the policy itself, and one parent shared his concerns.
“We don’t specifically address how we’re going to help children to get the care we’re referring them into,” said Michael Berg, a Whitestown resident who works at a high school and has been involved with substance abuse counseling. “A student athlete is never going to be allowed to come back because mom won’t pick up the phone or dad won’t pay the copays for a therapist, so we’re creating the exact situation where a kid who had something going for them has nothing going for them now.”
The board is expected to vote on the policy at its next meeting, scheduled for 6 p.m. April 10.
The policy
Highlights of the proposed random drug testing policy include:
- Students expecting to drive, park on school grounds or participate in any extracurricular activities (including dances and prom) throughout the school year must enroll for random drug testing to be eligible.
- The policy doesn’t replace the district’s right to test any student who at a time exhibits cause for reasonable suspicion of drug and/or alcohol usage.
- Parents may opt to enroll their students in the random drug testing program if they don’t already qualify, but they may not opt out.
- A table of random numbers will be used to assign numbers to participants, and a random mathematical formula will be used to select students for testing.
- Parents may request a drug test for their teen but must pay for it.
- If tampering or cheating during the test is confirmed, the student will become ineligible for all extracurricular activities for the remainder of the school year.
- The school principal or designee will be notified of a positive test and will notify the student and his or her parents and provide information on counseling and assistance.
- Students on a sports team will be suspended from 25 percent of contests after a first positive test and 50 percent of contests after a second. Students will lose parking, driving and extracurricular activities for 30 days after a first positive test and 60 days following a second.
