Editor:
The Sweet Home School Board has proposed mandatory random drug testing on student athletes as a condition of participation.
What you probably do not know is that the superintendent, as an employee of the Sweet Home School District, is not required to be under any such scrutiny. Nor is the board or any other employee (except bus drivers, who are regulated by federal law) of the Sweet Home School District – even new hires!
I brought this up to the superintendent and the School Board at the last meeting of the board. The standard response is: “We’re more than willing and in support of a drug policy for staff, but they are too heavily protected by their union contract.”
Why do you think that is? You know what the students are protected by the United States Constitution, Article IV as well as Article I, Section IX of the Oregon State Constitution, which requires warrants for all searches and seizures, including that of persons. So while the School Board makes up policies, at the same time they hide behind their union contracts that exempt them from their own proposed rules.
The unfortunate fact is that students and families have no representation and students are expected to have fewer rights, as if they do not count, when policies are imposed upon them by the School Board.
I say, choose home schooling, charter school or private school, if you are able to.
The School Board is overstepping their boundaries and they need to stop. If there is a finger to point or a nose to look down, the superintendent and Board of Directors need to start using a mirror first. After all, it is a safety hazard for the school district to not require random drug testing of all of its employees and board.
Roseanne Lupoli
Sweet Home