HILLSBOROUGH: School board votes to continue random drug testing

By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
   Hillsborough’s Board of Education voted, 6-3, Monday night to continue the district’s random drug testing policy, which school administrators said could reach 94 percent of students.
   The testing, begun in 2008, opens the possibility of testing for any student participating in extra-curricular activities and sports, as well as student drivers who park at the school or an authorized lot.
   Voting to continue the ban were Dana Bogusewski, Deena Centofanti, Jennifer Haley, Thuy Anh Le, Christopher Pulsifer and Lorraine Soisson. Voting to end the policy were Greg Gillette, board vice president Judy Haas and board president Thomas Kinst.
   Ms. Le noted that 64 percent of the more than 700 parent respondents to a survey on the school’s website said they preferred to keep the testing program.
   Before the vote, the board heard four speakers say they wanted to see the random testing continue. One woman, Mary Fougere, who said she lived across from the high school gave the board photographs she said she took of students smoking or dealing drugs in her development, she said.
   Another was resident John Bell, a former AM radio morning show disc jockey, who said his experience was that kids were more motivated by the fear of being caught and punished than having a privilege taken away.
   The third was Anna Mahler, a student assistance counselor at the middle school, who said random drug testing was an extension of the education students receive in lower grades. A fourth speaker, resident Susan Coyle, said testing sends a strong message and should be seen as another way of screening to protect kids’ health.