Now Students...Later Everyone. We Must Stop This Now!!!!

School to randomly test student drivers for drugs
Associated Press July 20, 2006

"The school has no business interfering with our role as parents and forcing kids to prove their innocence."

Urinalysis reveals not only the presence of illegal drugs, but also the existence of many other physical and medical conditions, including genetic predisposition to disease - or pregnancy.

ABILENE, Texas - Students who drive themselves to school this year will be subject to random drug tests, De Leon High School officials said.

The school board decided to expand former drug testing regulations to include students who park on school property and those who participate in all extracurricular activities. Athletes, beginning in seventh grade, were already being tested, the Abilene Reporter-News reported.

"Our goal is to include as many students as possible into our drug-testing program," said Randy Mohundro, superintendent of De Leon schools.

Students must agree to the program when they register this fall and obtain their parking permit, officials said. Marijuana, cocaine, barbiturates and methamphetamine can be detected by the test.

Students testing positive would not be turned over to police but instead would be required to undergo counseling. They would temporarily be banned from school activities and driving to the campus.

Mohundro said officials already had the right to search student vehicles and were simply expanding that policy.

"Bringing a car to school is a privilege, not a right," he said.

Merkel superintendent Bill Hood said his district had not instituted such tests but was interested in the idea to promote safety.

"If you're going to let them drive a car around the campus, you would want them to be drug free," he said.

But other schools have shied away from random drug testing to ensure that students' rights are not violated. The Supreme Court has upheld such testing only for extracurricular activities.

De Leon is about 80 miles southeast of Abilene.