By Ann Marie Shambaugh
The Zionsville Community Schools board of trustees will hold a special meeting Nov. 28 to discuss a familiar topic: random drug testing.
The school board first discussed issue in mid-2014 and again in April 2015 but did not take a vote at either meeting.
School board president Shari Alexander Richey said the upcoming meeting will provide a forum to explain the topic in depth, discuss what district officials have learned in the last two years, give the public a chance to weigh in and possibly result in a vote.
Board members did not discuss details or opinions about random drug testing at their Nov. 14 meeting, although several raised questions they’d like to see addressed. In the past, some school board members have expressed support for random drug tests, while others have raised concerns that it could lead to students experimenting with drugs that may not show up on a standardized test.
The meeting is set for 6 p.m. Nov. 28 in the ZCS board room.
In other action, the school board:
- Reappointed Wayne Bivans, a former director of the Indiana Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, to the Zionsville Parks Board.
- Authorized the advertisement of a public hearing for Dec. 12 to present information and receive feedfback about several major projects that need repair in the next year, including the roof at Pleasant View and Eagle elementary schools and the tennis courts at Zionsville Middle School.
- Approved a policy on first reading that prohibits photography or audio/video recording without advance authorization.
- Heard a presentation on the district’s Strong in Every Way initiative, which is designed to improve skills such as grit and resilience that can’t be taught through academics.
- Reviewed district enrollment projections from the Indiana Business Research Center at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, which predicts approximately 200 new students per year for the next several years.
