Dist. 128 task force set to examine drug testing
A task force of teachers, parents, students and other community members will investigate whether some Libertyville-Vernon Hills Area High School District 128 students should be tested for illegal drug use.
The team's creation doesn't necessarily mean students involved in extracurricular activities at Libertyville or Vernon Hills high schools will face mandatory drug testing, officials insisted. Rather, school board members said they want to determine if there's a need for such tests and if the community supports them.
"We want to see what the pros and cons are … and see where families stand on it," said District 128 board member Ellen Mauer, who heads the board's program and personnel committee.
The 30-member task force is set to meet for the first time Thursday night at Libertyville High School. The session is closed to the public.
Board members Jan Foreman and Marsha Oberreider are among the task force members as is District 128 spokeswoman Mary Todoric. The district's athletic directors, teachers, administrators, parents and students also will participate, Todoric said.
District officials in November announced plans to revisit whether athletes and students involved in extracurricular activities should be forced to take drug tests.
Courts have ruled that only such students -- not a school's entire enrollment -- can be tested for drugs in public schools.
Private schools do not share the same legal restrictions and can test an entire student population for drug use. St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights started such a program last year.
Antioch High and Lakes Community High in Lake Villa -- two facilities in the same district -- are among the few public schools where select students are tested for drugs.
District 128 officials have debated the issue but never launched a drug-testing program.
Because it has been a few years since the board and administration last discussed drug testing, officials want to see whatever current data is available, Mauer said. They also want to gauge the community's opinion.
Officials don't want to pay for a drug-testing program if residents will oppose the plan or if they haven't been effective, Mauer said.
Board President Anne Landgraf was on the last committee that investigated drug-testing several years ago. She favors testing students for illegal drug use, saying it gives students being pressured by their peers an excuse not to do drugs -- and one that's perhaps more acceptable than "My mother will kill me."
"It gives them another out," Landgraf said. "It's certainly worth looking into."