Reported drug and alcohol use is about the same in De Soto USD 232 as it is in Johnson County and even in Kansas, according to the 2007 Kansas Communities that Care Survey.
However, Mill Valley High School Principal Joe Novak said that doesn't mean there isn't a problem.
"I can't concern myself with what may be accepted, what is happening, what others are doing," Novak said. "I think if we commit to education then we have to look at our kids one at a time."
That is why Novak, as part of a special school board committee, is looking into requiring seventh- through 12th-grade students who participate in school activities submit to random drug tests.
The committee, which was formed in November 2006, emphasized at its community meetings last week that data from the Kansas Communities that Care Survey shows that students in the districts are abusing drugs and alcohol.
Committee members stressed that random drug testing, if approved, would be part of a comprehensive strategic plan for addressing drug and alcohol use in the district. Novak said its purpose was to deter students from drug use and not to serve as a "gotcha" technique.
Read Entire Article
|
|
No Icon