Consequences of refusing a drug test

It’s dangerous to appear stoned in junior high these days.

A staff member at North Hills… It’s dangerous to appear stoned in junior high these days.

A staff member at North Hills Junior High who suspected a student there of using drugs sent the kid to the school nurse. After the student refused to take a drug test, the school contacted the parents, who stood by their child’s decision.

Under the current disciplinary code, without proof that the student was actually on drugs, the school couldn’t pursue any action more severe than a warning. But superintendent John D. Esaias wants a student’s refusal to take a drug test to have the same consequences as flunking one – immediate suspension followed by an “alternative education program.” If the student refuses to attend bad-kid school, the board sets up an expulsion hearing.

So, the precedent being set here is simple: if a kid looks like he might be smoking the dope, he’s guilty until proven innocent.

Do these administrators remember what it was like in junior high? The intoxicating brew of hormones coursing through everyone’s bodies coupled with the stultifying – to junior high kids, at least – content of the classes can make just about anyone seem a little loopy. So, if a single teacher thinks that Mary Jane was acting a little strange during social studies, she’ll be called upon to prove that she’s not on drugs, or accept the consequences of actually being on drugs.

Teachers are often the first line of defense against youngsters’ developing drug problems, and that fact shouldn’t be denied. However, there are those teachers who might not like a particular student or his choice of dreadlocks and Grateful Dead T-shirts. That teacher could be granted tremendous and arbitrary power over the kid.

If the school district wants to take steps to curb student drug use, they must come up with a fair and codified protocol for forcing the student to decide between a drug test or bad-kid school or worse. For instance, if three teachers independently refer a student to the nurse for a drug test, then perhaps testing is appropriate.

Assuming this guilty-until-proven-innocent measure is passed, it is incumbent upon the school district to notify kids of the terrible consequences of trying to make a stand in defense of their own privacy.