Sikeston school officials vote to expand random drug testing

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Sikeston Board of Education members voted 6-1 Tuesday to expand the district's random drug testing policy to include students who park their vehicles on the district's campus.

In August, the board adopted a random drug testing policy for students who participate in extracurricular activities regulated by the Missouri State High School Activities Association, excluding all activities in which students receive an academic grade for their participation.

The newly amended policy will take effect with the 2009-2010 school year.

Board member Paul H. Boyd voted against amending the policy. He also voted against the original policy.

"We've not heard from the administrators of the high school campus, except for Mr. Borgsmiller," he said in the discussion before the vote.

"We have not taken the opportunity to run this through our Citizens Advisory Committee," he added. "We did not consider the potential impact of the neighborhood should this policy be implemented and parking change around there. We have, in our drug policy, a stiffer potential penalty for possession of Tylenol on our campus than we do for a student who uses a controlled substance and subsequently tests positive."

Boyd said he isn't sure of the message the policy sends to students.

"I continue to maintain that the research in this field says drug use will stay static in schools that implement policies like this and in some incidences, drug use rises," he said.

Board member Amy Blanton said fewer drug incidents occurred at the high school in the 2008-2009 school year, which is the first year the random testing policy was implemented.

"This policy cannot affect the academic instruction of the children who are in this drug-testing pool. It merely includes their privilege to park on campus or to participate in extracurricular sports," Blanton said.

Board member Ken Stone said, "I think the whole purpose behind the program is to identify those who are using drugs and try to convert them or talk to them and counsel them about not doing that. While we may not have a specific counseling program for repeat offenders, we do offer counseling for people in their first offense."

Following the regular meeting, Stone said he disagreed with some of Boyd's comments on amending the drug testing policy. "The Citizens Advisory Council didn't want to discuss the issue of random drug testing for students. We're not allowed to take anyone out of school" for failing drug tests, he said.