Dist. 158's proposed drug policy will test randomly

Parents and students shouldn't be blamed if they can't make complete sense out of the proposed drug testing policy in Huntley Unit District 158.

At Thursday night's board meeting, members of the district's school board had some difficulty interpreting the policy themselves.

However, board members worked through their confusion to refine the language and plan to vote on the policy later this month.

Under the administration's proposal, Huntley High School would implement random drug testing for students who participate in sports and other after-school activities starting next year.

Board members sought to clarify exactly which activities the policy would cover. Board Secretary Kim Skaja expressed concern the new program would discourage students from participating in chorus and other performance groups.

"For some of those kids, this is going to be so invasive that they're going to say, 'I'm not doing extracurriculars,'" Skaja said.

Associate Superintendent Terry Awrey said the policy would cover only activities that entail sanctioned competitions outside of school.

Board members also expressed concern that the policy as written would require students who opted out of random drug testing at the outset of the school year to automatically take a drug test if they later decided to join an activity.

"You're really discouraging a student from changing their mind about participating in something midway through the year," board member Mike Skala said.

To remedy that, Awrey said he would remove the bottom portion of the proposed consent form, which would exclude students from activities for a whole year if they declined to participate at the beginning of the year.

The board is set to vote on the policy at its Dec. 17 meeting.