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KANAWHA TEACHER'S OPPOSING RANDOM DRUG TESTING |
| (11/13/2008) |
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Kanawha County teachers are gearing-up to bring a suit against the school board over their proposal to randomly drug test teachers. "If there's not a reversal, I think it's going to be expensive for everybody," said Judy Hale the president of the West Virginia chapter of the American Federation of Teachers. "This is too important for us to just let it go as is, because people's careers can be destroyed over a false positive read," Hale said. The Kanawha system is also seeking to drug test students who drive to school and attend one of the county's alternative schools. School systems in West Virginia are already random testing students who are involved in extracurricular activities. Hale says the teacher's union will appeal to the board "one more time." School board president Becky Jordon said she doesn't believe the upcoming meeting is going to change what the board has already decided. Board members have voted 4-1 to randomly test teachers and other school employees for drugs. They said they looked to the corporate world and decided the county's existing pre-employment drug screenings and its suspicion-based testing for all employees was not enough. The number of alcohol, tobacco and other drug violations increased by nearly 200 to 710 during the 2007-08 school year, according to data provided by Kathryn Burgess, who manages the Safe and Drug Free Schools grant for Kanawha County. The Calhoun school system has declined to issue information about how many students have been tested and the results, indicating such information could breach confidentiality for the affected students.
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