Coudersport Area School District Student Drug and Alcohol Testing Policy

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Coudersport Area School District Student Drug and
Alcohol Testing Policy
A Brief Summary of District Policy No. 227.1
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Quick Links
Brief History Purpose of the Policy
Projected Outcomes Who Can Be Tested?
The Testing Process Sanctions Frequently
Asked Questions 2007-2008 Test Results
A Brief Summary of District Policy No. 227.1
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BRIEF HISTORY
Coaches, teachers, and parents shared concerns
about student drug use with building
administration at the junior/senior high
school. In response to these concerns,
solutions were sought to combat the perceived
problem and help students stay away from and/or
stop using illegal drugs. During the school
years prior to the implementation of the testing
policy, drug use was substantiated in the
Districts activity students in both athletes
and non-athletes.
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BRIEF HISTORY
Step One The District applied for and received
federal grant money to support a random student
drug testing program at no cost to the district
or parents. Step Two The Board wrote, revised
and passed Student Drug and Alcohol Testing
Policy No. 227.1. Step Three A testing company
using SAMHSA approved testing facilities and with
experience in student drug testing was secured to
orchestrate our testing program. Step Four
Implementation of the program began during the
2007-2008 school year.
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PURPOSES

• To prevent and deter the use of illegal drugs
  among students
• To offer students another legitimate reason to
  refuse to use drugs and/or alcohol.
• To protect the health and safety of our students
• To provide a ready resource for support and
  assistance to any student who has a problem with
  the substances.

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PROJECTED OUTCOMES

• Prevention and a reduction in the use of illegal
  drugs,
• Improved academic performance,
• Better student attendance,
• Reduction in discipline referrals,
• An overall improved building and District climate.

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POLICY SUMMARY
Who can be tested?
Who? At this time, the random and confidential
drug testing policy applies to all activity
students at Coudersport Junior/Senior High
School. An activity student is any student who
voluntarily participates in any interscholastic
competitive activity (sports, music, academic,
etc.).
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Who can be tested?
Before officially participating in any of these
activities, the activity student and his or her
parent/guardian must sign the Informed Consent
Agreement. Students will not be allowed to
participate in these activities without
submitting a completed Informed Consent Agreement.
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Who can be tested?
The District may test up to 20 activity
students at random at bi-weekly intervals during
the school year. Parents may elect to remove
their children from the testing pool during
periods when the activity is not in session by
submitting a written request to the Vice
Principal.
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The testing process.
Students from the eligible pool of activity
students are assigned a number and numbers are
selected randomly for testing. Students will be
called discreetly to report to the testing
site. A representative from the lab will
collect all samples for the urinalysis. Students
will provide the samples in the privacy of a
restroom in the nurses office, and steps will be
taken to ensure the purity and confidentiality of
the specimens.
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The testing process.
If a student refuses to submit a sample, the
District may consider that a violation of the
policy, and sanctions will apply as if a positive
test result had been obtained.
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The testing process.
Samples are sent to a SAMHSA approved lab for
testing and review by a medical review officer.
If a positive result is found, the medical review
officer will contact the school, and the building
principal will notify the students parents.
Confidentiality will be maintained in the case of
any positive result.
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Sanctions.
Remember This policy is not intended to be a
punitive policy its purpose is to
reduce/eliminate drug use in the District and
provide help to students who need it. There are
no academic sanctions related to positive results
and law enforcement will not be notified of any
positive results.
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Sanctions. First Offense.

• In the case of a students first offense.
• Suspension from activity for 14 calendar days.
• Parents/guardians notified by the principal.
• Mandatory referral to the Districts Student
  Assistance Program.
• Student will be subject to the Locker Search
  Policy and may be subject to further sanctions
  depending on the search results.
• Student to undergo drug and alcohol counseling
  with an outside professional agency.
• Follow up drug test prior to resuming activity or
  cease to participate in the activity.

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Sanctions. Second Offense.

• In the case of a students second offense (within
  one calendar year of the first offense).
• Suspension from activity for eight (8) calendar
  weeks.
• Parents/guardians notified by the principal.
• Student will be subject to the Locker Search
  Policy and may be subject to further sanctions
  depending on the search results.
• Student to undergo drug and alcohol counseling
  with an outside professional agency. The student
  may be reinstated at the end of the eight weeks
  with a recommendation from the certified
  substance abuse professional.
• Follow up drug test prior to resuming activity or
  cease to participate in the activity.

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Sanctions. Third Offense.

• In the case of a students third offense (within
  one calendar year of the second offense).
• Suspension from all extracurricular activities
  for a period of one calendar year.

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F.A.Q.

• Frequently Asked Questions
• 1. What drugs are being targeted?
• Answer We are looking at a panel of several
  drugs including opiates, marijuana,
  methamphetamines, ecstasy, anabolic steroids, and
  other drugs.
• Will the District test for alcohol?
• Answer The District will only test for alcohol
  with a reasonable suspicion that the student is
  in possession of or under the influence of
  alcohol.

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F.A.Q.

• Frequently Asked Questions
• Why does the policy not cover non-activity
  students?
• Answer The Supreme Court of the United States
  has given approval to testing extracurricular
  students who choose to compete in interscholastic
  competition it has not ruled that it is legal to
  have mandatory testing of the general school
  population. The Office of Safe and Drug Free
  Schools will not let us use federal grant money
  to test other than activity students.

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F.A.Q.
Frequently Asked Questions 4. Dont some
prescription medications show up as positives
in drug tests? What about foods,
over-the-counter medications, etc.? Answer No
drug test will be labeled positive until the
Medical Review Officer has looked at the
medications a student was taking at the time of
the collection and ruled out any impact of those
medications or other substances.
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F.A.Q.
Frequently Asked Questions 5. Can parents
challenge positive results? Answer Yes. There
are provisions in the policy that allow a split
sample to be sent to another lab for retesting
(at the parent/guardians expense). 6. Can the
District provide help for families who need to
seek counseling from an outside professional
agency? Answer We can provide help in locating
an agency and can work with families who cant
afford this type of counseling to find local
agencies who will work with them.
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F.A.Q.
Frequently Asked Questions 7. Do students
miss a lot of instructional time during the
testing process? Answer Efforts are made to
pull students out of study halls when possible,
but that is not always an option. Steps have
been taken to minimize the amount of class time
students miss, while maintaining confidentiality
and the integrity of the samples collected. Most
students only miss a few minutes of class, and
the random nature of the selection process makes
it unlikely that students will be called from
class more than two times during the entire
school year.
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F.A.Q.
Frequently Asked Questions 8. Will testing
data be posted or otherwise made public? Answer
General testing data (number of tests, number of
positives, etc.) will be reported to the School
Board and posted on the school website. However,
if any student does test positive, neither his or
her name nor his or her grade level (or any other
potentially identifying information) will be
posted or reported. This is another way we can
assure confidentiality.
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2007-2008 Report
The following charts show the distribution of
student drug screenings by grade during the
school year
Coudersport Junior High Coudersport Senior High
Grade Tested Refused 7 38 0 8 48 0
Grade Tested Refused 9 56 0 10 44
0 11 43 0 12 45 0
During the2007-2008 school year, 253 activity
students were tested in 274 random screenings.
No students refused.
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2007-2008 Report
Out of the 253 students tested, only two tested
positive for marijuana. This is below the
average of 2-3 percent positive for student drug
testing. (Source Sport Safe, Inc.) A survey
conducted in May indicated that recent student
drug use (within the last 30 days) was down from
13 percent to 11.4 percent. Student discipline
issues involving drugs in school were down from
the 2006-2007 school year. There was no
significant change in the attendance rate.
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Contact Information
Mr. Reams can be reached by phone at the
junior/senior high school to help you with any
other questions about the program. He can also
be reached by email at sreams_at_coudyschools.net.