Kanawha County school reconsiders drug testing teachers
Many states are discussing drug testing teachers, but few are actually going ahead with it. The Kanawha County school system (SC) rejected a proposed policy last spring, but another teacher drug arrest caused the issue to be resurrected. Later this month, the Kanawha school board is expected to discuss and possibly vote on a revised drug-testing policy. The county already has a drug-testing program for school bus drivers. Under the proposed policy, all employees in "safety-sensitive" positions, including board members and upper-level administrators, would be subject to random testing. Often, it is a single incident that initiates discussion of developing a stricter drug-testing policy, says Lisa Soronen, senior staff attorney for the National School Boards Association. "It’s usually sparked by an incident in the school or by an employee," Ms. Soronen says. "That’s the more common experience, but then there’s the question of, is it really a problem or was it just a one-time thing?" Ms. Soronen says she has had considerably more inquiries on employee drug testing from school board attorneys in recent months, but in most cases, school systems briefly discuss the idea and leave it at that, she says. "They might look into it," she says. "But looking into it is a lot different than actually deciding to do it and develop a policy. It’s one of those things that is easy to look at, but hard to decide how to do because then they think of the expense and the constitutional issues involved."
Only Hawaii is further along with a teacher drug-testing program, according to information provided by the National School Boards Association. There, random drug testing for employees is a provision in a proposed new labor contract for teachers, which would also include a hefty pay raise. Hawaii’s Department of Education and its teacher union initially talked of a program under which teachers would be tested only when there was suspicion of drug use, but Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle intervened, urging the required random drug testing and calling it "non-negotiable." The testing is expected to start next year, says Greg Knudsen, spokesman for the Hawaii Department of Education. Mr. Knudsen says officials still must decide if everyone, including administrators, will be tested. Hawaii, which has just a single, statewide school district, has about 13,500 teachers and 50,000 total employees. Officials say they haven’t yet determined how much the testing will cost. In both Kanawha County and Hawaii, officials have said they are worried about the cost. "It depends on the form of testing, whether it’s an oral swab test or if they use a cup," says Mr. Knudsen. Then there’s the question of the test’s reliability, he says. "If it comes up positive, there would have to be a series of confirmation tests and those costs could run into the hundreds (of dollars)," Mr. Knudsen says. A routine, negative test might cost only $15 to $20, he says.
Charleston Daily Mail
By Jessica M. Karmasek
[Full story]
[Editor’s Note: For background on Hawaii’s new drug testing policy for teachers, see below.]
[NSBA School Law pages on Hawaii’s new teacher drug testing policy]