Post # 6

Teacher Drug-Testing Policy Struck-Down

This week we browsed a variety of websites relating to educational technology and twenty first century skills.  The site of my choice is actually a simple blog created by Mark Walsh discussing policy making, implementation and review. The blog was entitled Teacher Drug-Testing Policy Struck Down and was posted to Education Week Blog on February 24, 2011.

The blog discusses the issues school districts have when dealing with drug testing of its faculty and students. The issue is very much prevalent as each and every day an alarming number of students are caught with either drug paraphernalia or possession at school.  The Smith County School District enacted a drug-testing policy for school employees in 2004 after two incidents in which teachers were charged with having drug paraphernalia in their homes. The policy was then revised in 2007 to include random drug testing.  The Smith County Education Association filed suit against the district for its policy claiming “unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment. The court ruled that the 2007 policy lacks clarity and does not give teachers reasonable and adequate notice of what is being tested. The policy is also implemented in such a way that it unreasonably intrudes on the privacy of teachers.  According to a resent Teen Drug Abuse poll, More than 60 percent of teens said that drugs were sold, used, or kept at their school. What is even more alarming is that about 28 percent of 8^th graders say they have used marijuana at school or at home. With an easy access to illegal drugs, the American high school student is much more tempted to ‘try” or “experiment” with drugs between the ages of 13 & 19. As educators we cannot help but think of the times of Eleanor Roosevelt and her crackdown on drugs.

In my school district teenage drug usage is becoming a major problem as Newark’s gang related incidents are on the rise. Many attest this to the fact that more and more Newark Police officers are becoming Laid Off and the streets see less black and white cars patrolling. The district has a drug and alcohol policy instituted but is not strong enough to deal with future problems and the unforeseen. A drug free school zone is almost becoming a thing of the past in the urban school districts. It is up to educators and school officials to put an end to teenage drug usage and the problems it causes both academically and socially.