Poplar Bluff School Board considers drug testing policy

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo.--The Poplar Bluff School District may have a random drug testing policy before the start of the next school year, according to discussions Thursday night at the Board of Education's monthly meeting.

Board members approved a request to form a committee to look at this possibility.

"The goal is to give students the opportunity to say, 'I don't want to be involved with drugs because I may lose extracurricular activities,'" said Assistant Superintendent Chris Hon.

The committee will include eight to 10 people, with members from the teaching staff, administrators and the community.

A proposal could be brought to the board in July or early August, Hon said, if that provides the committee with sufficient time to research the matter.

Hon said he has researched policies used by other districts, including Sikeston, New Madrid and Van Buren. Some require students to participate in the random testing if they wish to be involved in extracurricular activities or other privileges, such as driving to school. One, for instance, randomly tests 5 percent of participating students each month, others test all students participating in a particular event before the event, as well as randomly throughout the year.

Drugs are a problem not only in schools, but society, Hon said.

Hon will take the place of retiring Superintendent Ernie Lawson in July. Associate Superintendent Clint Johnston is also leaving the district and will be replaced the same month by Poplar Bluff High School alumni Rod Priest.

This was the last board meeting for Johnston, who has been with the district 13 years.

"I hope the district continues to focus on the name across the front of the jersey, not just the name on the back," said Johnston, who will become superintendent of Jefferson School District in Festus. "I think periodically as you look at the issues that tend to absorb the time and energy of the people in this school district, it is not always about what is best for the child."

Johnston said as the district continues to move through tumultuous financial times, he also hopes everyone remembers their work is about the 5,000 bosses, or students, they are there to serve.

Gift for PBHS

A 4 foot tall, 5 foot wide and 1 foot deep sculpture will be placed outside the entrance of E.T. Peters Gymnasium at Poplar Bluff Senior High this summer. The abstract horseshoe sculpted by former PBHS student Matt Dodd is a gift from the high school classes of 2003 through 2010, former student body president Zach Stricker told board members.

"We wanted to do something to really give back to the school and our very generous community," Stricker said. "This is a symbol of (Poplar Bluff school district's) hopes, dreams and achievements through the years."

The sculpture will be paid for with approximately $4,700 student council members have raised in past years.

The junior high will also have a new look in the fall, after renovations are completed this summer.

Areas of the building to be renovated will be emptied of furniture and other items by late Friday, administrators told the board. The board approved a bid of almost $89,000 for the purchase and installation of bleachers for the junior high gymnasium as part of this project. The bid is about $7,000 less than was expected.

Junior high summer school has been moved to the senior high to accommodate construction work. Poplar Bluff expects district-wide summer school enrollment to be about a quarter of its normal count.

The district greatly reduced the program when state legislatures predicted severe funding cuts for summer school. Although the program is now fully funded, the news came too late to return to a full schedule, according to administrators.

"What we intend to do is expand summer school as needed (from enrollment) to meet the needs of the students," Lawson said.

It will not offer transportation, but the district will be able to add some enrichment classes at the high school. This includes driver's education, at no charge.