Sean C. Morgan
Two Sweet Home women told the Sweet Home School Board last week that it should not approve a new drug testing policy for students participating in extra-curricular activities.
The board has been considering a policy for several months, following a request from board member Chanz Keeney to look into it. Supt. Keith Winslow has been gathering information and working out possible language for a new policy and administrative rule.
The two local residents addressed the board during its regular meeting on Nov. 9.
“I am concerned about the Sweet Home School District’s proposed policy of drug testing student athletes,” said Roseanne Lupoli.
“It is unconstitutional. More specifically, it violates article IV of the Bill of Rights, which reads, ‘The right of the people to be secure, in their person, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.’”
Lupoli noted that only bus drivers are tested for drugs in the Sweet Home School District.
“It would be a much better use of this school board’s time to discuss a drug testing policy for everyone that works for the school district, including this board,” Lupoli said. “If it’s good enough for the students, then it’s good enough for you.”
Brittany Donnell had a similar reaction to the idea.
“I believe that extracurricular activities, such as athletics, are designed to build soft skills sets which are essential to a well rounded education,” she said. “I fear that if drug testing is imposed on student athletes that it will deter some students from participating altogether, most likely the ones who need it the most.
“There are already barriers for participation in extra-curricular sports and activities being that most, including school athletics, are pay to play.
“Creating the additional barrier of student athlete drug testing may create an outcome contrary to what it is intended to do. We should be focusing on an inclusive approach.”
She agreed with Lupoli about the disparity in drug testing in the district.
“I also feel there is a level of hypocrisy occurring. The School District has no drug testing for its employees or its board members. After doing a little bit of research, I found that this is the exception, not the rule, when compared to other districts in the nation.”
Donnell also asserted that a drug-testing policy would violate the Fourth Amendment.
Chairman Mike Reynolds thanked them for their comments, and the board did not address the subject further.
The details of the drug-testing policy remain unsettled, Winslow said, although the testing will likely be random if approved by the board.
“I think I have enough information to proceed,” Winslow said. He believes a first reading of a new policy will go to the board after the first of the year. The board will probably hold another reading or two before deciding whether to approve the policy.
If it is to take effect next school year, the board will have to approve a policy by the end of this school year to allow officials to include the details in handbooks and informational materials, he said.
After Keeney broached the subject earlier this year, “the first thing I did was ask coaches, is there a need to this?” Winslow said. He found that three other districts in the Sky-Em League drug test their athletes.
Policies like this are constitutional, Winslow said, and they’ve been upheld in court. The Oregon School Boards Association suggested that he run a survey among students.
In October, the Oregon Health Authority released the results of its Healthy Teens Survey of high school juniors, and Winslow will rely on that survey moving forward.
“It shows not an overwhelming need,” he said, but it does show a need in the student body. “There is at least some evidence that there is a drug problem in the Sweet Home High School – as there is everywhere, but I’m not concerned about that. I’m concerned about Sweet Home.”
In the survey, based on anonymous self-reporting, 29.4 percent of juniors reported using marijuana in the past 30 days; 35.8 percent, alcohol; 16.8 percent, cigarettes; 6.6 percent, prescription drugs.
The drug testing policy would provide three benefits, Winslow said. Those were identified by the OSBA in his discussion with OSBA officials.
First, it helps keep student athletes safe, Winslow said. Second, it gives students another reason to say no to drugs, and third, if a student tests positive, the district can help the student.
In sample policies, the results of the drug tests are not shared with law enforcement officials.
“I still feel comfortable with this,” Winslow said. “Do I personally feel like we need to? Maybe not so much when I was there for six years at Sweet Home High School.”
But the coaches do feel like they would like to make sure athletes are drug free and making good choices, he said.
While he served at the high school as principal and assistant principal, Winslow said the school had two issues involving athletes. Both involved alcohol. He said coaches did not report drug problems, though if such occurred, they should have.