Staff Ed- Drug Testing at Schools
Some schools in the area have made the choice to make their students take drug tests throughout certain times in the school year.
Students in Mitchell Schools who sign up for certain clubs, sports or other extracurricular activities, give the school permission to give a drug test whenever they believe they have reason to.
Our school doesn’t do ‘random’ drug test unless the staff has suspicion that is student is under the influence of drugs, alcohol, etc. The school board said the school has permission to give students drug testing if they have suspicion but doesn’t require that every student undergo a drug test. Any school has every right to give students drug testing but the faculty and the principal are under the impression that not every student needs to be tested for drugs.
So the question is, should Paoli High School be ‘allowed’ to give students random drug tests without suspicion?
The majority of us at the Paolite believe that the idea of giving drug tests at school would be a great idea. We believe that if the school was allowed to give students drug test whenever they felt it was needed, many students would choose to steer clear of drugs.
We also believe that even though the idea of drug testing would be a good idea, we feel that if the faculty doesn’t have suspicion of a student, they shouldn’t be required to take a drug test. We feel as though that would be an invasion of privacy. Even though we feel as though it may be an invasion of privacy, the school is legally able to give suspicious students drug test.
We at the Paolite think that not only suspicious students should have to take ‘random’ drug testing but also students who sign up for sports. We believe that if students involved in sports take drug testing, then they will stay away from drugs and set the image of a good role model. We believe that drug testing students involved in extracurricular activities (not just sports) wouldn’t be necessary unless the staff has suspicion of said students.
The one concern we had about drug testing would be that we think it would be an invasion of privacy. We think that unless the faculty has suspicion of a student, the school shouldn’t be allowed give ‘random’ drug tests.
The majority of us at the Paolite staff think that Paoli High School should be allowed to give students ‘random’ drug tests whenever they please. It could make our classmates better examples for others and keep people out of trouble.
