Student Drug Tests

This next announcement has got to rank as one of the biggest issues that will surface in the debate between personal human rights and community safety.

The Raytown, Missouri School District held a forum on Monday May 16, 2011 to discuss the idea of having students undergo drug testing.

When the idea of drug-testing employees first sprouted, there were protests galore screaming that this would violate a person’s human rights. Eventually enough people agreed that employers had rights too, and we all got used to the idea. There has been drug testing in the military and there have been news stories not too long ago about drug testing welfare recipients and removing them from the roles if they did not pass. But it is still fairly new in the schools.

Do students have the right to not be tested? On the other hand, do the non-addicts have the right to be free from the presence of other students who are on drugs and therefore not thinking straight? No doubt this question will pop up; indeed, heated debate was expected.

Aside from the democratic issue, the program would cost the school district about $25000 a year. That’s a lot of books and perhaps a staff member, cost-wise.

The tests would be performed randomly on students who are involved in extra-curricular activities and all those who have parking passes as well. Hmmmm. It seems like there is a huge percentage of students who will not be included in that testing. In fact, statistics generally show that students who have worthwhile and meaningful activities are less likely to fall into drug use, although it certainly does happen. That’s another question to discuss.

There is one other school district in the Kansas City metro area that has a drug testing policy and that is Oak Grove. Hopefully some insight and specifics will be available about their success if it isn’t too soon to tell.

It is important to encourage teens to stay off of drugs, and to keep the schools safe. It just seems rather likely that it will just serve to keep them from driving all the way to school and from trying out for sports teams instead. And if teachers are trained as to how to recognize when a student is on drugs and there is a policy for removing that student immediately from the school grounds – what benefit is this expensive urine testing really going to provide?