http://abclocal.go.com/wls/aboutus/120203_...rugtesting.html

 

Leah Hope

December 2, 2003 ? An Illinois high school is the first in the state to require all its students to undergo drug testing.

 

Under a Supreme Court ruling last year, public schools cannot do mandatory drug testing. Only students involved in extracurricular activities could be subject to testing. But private schools can create their own policies on drug testing and one northwest side school is putting a policy in place.

 

Starting next year, all the young men at St. Patrick's High School will be tested for drugs. Under the law, the private school can write its own rules. It will be the first school in Chicago to require drug testing for all students.

 

School administrators say it is rare to find a student with a drug problem but they hope the mandatory testing will teach these young men to make better decisions in life.

 

"If you help them through these adolescent years to say 'no,' you'll have a better chance of the kids being able to say 'no' when they're at college and later," said Dr. Joseph Schmidt, St. Patrick High School principal.

 

"In society now drugs are so readily available and I couldn't see why anybody would not want to know if their child was on drugs to get them help and I think it's a good idea the school is doing this," said Anne Joyce, St. Patrick High School parent.

 

Next fall the young men at saint pat's will have a sample of hair tested for illegal drugs. In the spring semester, there will be random testing.

 

The testing is expensive. The school is passing on that expense to parents by raising tuition $60.

good. durgs are bad anyways

without looking at the effects financially, that the testing will have, I think it's a good idea. These kids might complain about their rights being violated, but they need to shut up. They don't have to pay rent/mortgage/etc. for their home. They don't have to bring in money to pay for groceries. They can't vote. They need to shut up.

Kids who do not vote deserve rights to. People once thought women and blacks did not deserve rights. That proved to be right huh?

 

Knowing nothing but the private school system for the duration of my education process, I think I can speak for a reason why I think this is a BAD idea (rights and all aside). I know private schools very well, and they try to make everything extremely systematic. Everything has to be set and ready, not much flexibility. These random test dates, while maybe not officially announced to the student body, will be on set days picked well in advance. These days will some way or another be leaked down to and around the entire student body. The students who would be the ones affected by these tests would just simply stop using with enough time to avoid the test or find a different way of avoiding the test since they have plenty of time to think of their own way around. So, in essence, instead of curving drug use it might be counterproductive.

as someone who is subject to random drug tests (NCAA) i totally disagree. Random drug tests, if performed correctly, would make it very difficult for people to avoid. If it's not performed correctly, it shouldnt be performed. Just like anything in life, do things the right way.

 

As for the comparing kids' rights to that of blacks or women is ludicrous. Tell me that you are exaggerating, because there is no comparison.

as someone who is subject to random drug tests (NCAA) i totally disagree. Random drug tests, if performed correctly, would make it very difficult for people to avoid. If it's not performed correctly, it shouldnt be performed. Just like anything in life, do things the right way.

I was speaking of the fact that these tests could very well not be random, which would make them ineffective. If they are random, however, then I do not disagree on the fact that they will curve drug use.

Hair tests SUCK. they give way too many false positives, which for a private school which is testing EVERY student, is not fair. If a parent is doing a hair test, it can be retested, but when a school sees a positive, there's probably going to be no retest. I can see why they'd use hair tests since they can identify more types of drugs, but it's not a good plan. If you're going to test, do it urine-style.

 

If you don't know how a hair test works: the drugs you use get on your hair follicles. Some drugs (opiates) lay down on the shaft and don't migrate. Others (cocaine, for one), move around on the follicle. So for people with long hair, the test can tell (with some drugs) when you used it and when you stopped, but since this is a boy's school, most people are going to have short hair. Thus, the part where they may have stopped using it will have been cut off, and the drug part will still be there. sucks for them.

 

As for me, I don't really have an opinion on the whole thing. don't like it? go to a public school. or just stop the drugs. it'll save you a whole bunch of money.