Make voices heard about drug policy
By: Mae Rhine
Parents and students need to attend tonight’s special South Hunterdon meeting about a proposed plan to begin random drug testing.
The school wants all students involved in extracurricular activities or who drive to school to be included in the testing.
Some parents have objected, calling it everything from a violation of Constitutional rights, a violation of privacy and an infringement on a family’s privacy.
It’s very important all sides are heard in this debate.
If it’s passed, the only option parents will have is to not sign permission forms, allowing students to be involved in extracurricular activities or to drive to school. So let your opinion be heard now.
Superintendent Lisa Brady makes some very good points in her defense of the policy. Among other things, she says it gives some students an "out" instead of bowing to peer pressure to use drugs. They can simply say they can’t because they could be subject to random drug testing at any time.
That’s one good thing for students who may not have the inner strength and confidence to just say no.
South also would be the first school in the county to include middle school students as it is a seventh-grade through 12th-grade facility.
Ms. Brady sees that as intervention "early on in this destructive cycle."
She and officials maintain the policy is not intended to be punitive. It would be there to educate students and deter drug and alcohol use. Those who tested positive for a drug would be referred for counseling, not to the police.
But some parents still feel the policy would take away a child’s civil rights and a parent’s civil and parental rights and infringe on family privacy.
Both sides have strong arguments. The bottom line is, however, that policies already in place are not keeping South students from using drugs and alcohol.
Is this a necessary next step or should the district look at other solutions?
It’s something that should be debated. The Board of Education may make its decision tonight at the meeting, which will begin at 7 p.m. at the school.