Student drug tests topic for Dist. 128
Libertyville-Vernon Hills Area High School District 128 officials plan to investigate whether athletes and students involved in other extracurricular activities should be forced to take drug tests.
A group of parents, students, administrators and staffers representing Libertyville High and Vernon Hills High likely will start meeting in January to discuss the often-controversial issue, Associate Superintendent Prentiss Lea said.
They'll examine current drug-testing technology, data from schools that test students for drug use, the philosophical pros and cons of drug testing, and how the law has changed since district leaders last discussed the issue, Lea said.
No specific incident at either school prompted the pending discussions and administrators do not have a preconceived plan to begin drug tests, Lea said.
"It's just time again to come back and take a look at it," he said.
Public schools cannot make every student submit to a drug test, courts have ruled. Only students involved in clubs, sports and other activities can be forced to do so.
Private schools do not share the same legal restrictions and can test an entire student population for drug use, but such programs are unusual. Locally, St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights started testing all of its students for drug use this fall.
Antioch High and Lakes Community High in Lake Villa -- two schools in the same district -- are among the relatively few public schools where athletes and other select students are tested for drugs.
District 128 officials have discussed the issue in the past but never launched a drug-testing program.
In 2006, then-board member Dennis Ryan said officials should consider whether local students should be forced to submit to random drug tests. The board took no action at the time.
Ryan's comments came during a review of student code-of-conduct changes. Those talks led to a new, controversial policy calling for disciplinary action against students involved in extracurricular activities who maintain or are identified on a blog depicting illegal or inappropriate behavior.
The new drug-testing examination developed from those talks, Lea said.
Drug testing could give the school and parents another tool to fight drug use, Lea said. It also could deter students from using drugs, he said.
That's been the case in Antioch-Lake Villa Area High School District 117, where athletes, students in extracurricular activities and teens who park at school have been drug-tested since 2003, Superintendent Jay Sabatino said.
Surveys show student drug use has decreased since testing began, Sabatino said. The policy makes students think carefully about using drugs if they know they could be tested, he said.
District 128 school board members discussed drug testing and the soon-to-be-formed community group during a program and personnel committee meeting this week.
The group could spend a few months talking about the issue, Lea said, but a timetable has not been established.
"We're just opening the dialog," board member Jan Foreman said. "I'm willing to listen to all sides of this discussion."
Board member Alex Delli Paoli called drug testing "a heavy subject" and wants to learn more about the issue. Launching an investigative committee is a good start, he said.