Lockney, Texas, is now reuiring every student and every teacher, grades 6-12, to take a drug test. One sixth grader, 12 year old Brady Tannahill, refused, with the support of his parents.
For refusing, he is treated as if he tested positive: 21-day suspension from extracurricular activities, 3 day suspension for school, and substance abuse counseling. He can also be required to take a drug test every month for a year, and each time he refuses it will be treated as an additional or repeat positive, with escalating consequences.
I’d refuse to have my 12 year old kid subjected to that kind of mandatory testing, too.
I guess a corporation might have the right to protect their interests.
BUT A SCHOOL?? (I read about this and had the same reaction -> not my kid, you don’t.)
My WAG is that parents have blamed schools for their own failures. I would guess that the school is protecting its posterior. BUT, PRESUMPTION OF GUILT? NO permission slips? Oy.
Tinker
considered opinions to the contrary could cause involuntary retractions
Melin, is there any chance you could find a copy of the school policy? I’d be very interested in how they worded it. Also, was this the school’s decision, or are other schools doing it as well? Was it approved by the district, the gummint, the people?
And mostly, what the hell is their justification? Keep kids from using at school? Keep kids from dealing? Force parents to be accountable for their kids? All very laudable goals, but I’d like to find out what great ideals made these folks think mandatory whiz quizzes justifiable.
All I got is a news article in the local legal newspaper. It says, in part:
The student’s father met with the principal of the junior high school on Friday (these dates are Feb 3 and 4), which was supposed to give ten days, or until today, before the punishment would go into effect. The father stated that he would then be going to the school board.
I agree; I would refuse too. I think the policy is basically treating kids as guilty until proven innocent.
What surprises me here is that (at least from what I got out of the CNN report), only one family stood up and said, “sorry, but no”. I guess I naively had hoped that almost everyone would refuse, just on principle. What would they do then? Expel everybody?
I don’t see what the big deal is? Nobody is being treated as guilty. They’re being tested, that’s all. Who cares?
You people that are all, “Oh, I wouldn’t let them test my kid,” what are you really teaching them? How to avoid being caught for doing something wrong? How Mommy and Daddy will back them up against the school and the law no matter what? How it’s not really wrong unless you get caught?
Yeah, nice job, Mommy and Daddy. When your kids are giving $15 BJs to support they’re drug habit I hope they remember your lesson.
I have a constitutional right to be free from unwarranted governmental interference. The government is SUPPOSED to have probable cause before it can mess with me. I do not think that attending a public school constitutes “probable cause” for assuming that one is guilty of taking drugs.
Yeah, Avenue B Dude, “it’s only a test.” And kids have no rights. The question is not whether “he’s avoiding being caught doing something wrong” – it’s that a school feels it within its powers to suspect every one of its students. As Melin points out, you’re innocent until proven guilty. And there’s no probable cause here. At all. It is not illegal to be a sixth grader.
My wife flat out refuses to apply for any job where a drug test is required. Not because she uses any drugs – her idea of a high is 600 mg of Tylenol when her arthritis is at its worst. But on principle. Any job where they feel like they need to check all their employees for drug use is not going to be a pleasant working environment.
I think the thing that irritates me most about this policy is the cost. Schools are forever whining that they don’t have enough money for textbooks, teachers pay, paper towels in the rest rooms, etc. Now this school evidently has enough money to check all the students. Drug testing is not cheap.
The other thing that would bug me would be the loss of dignity for the students. My daughter in the sixth grade would have been humiliated to have a teacher watch her pee in a cup. All of this to catch what? The kids that probably all the teachers know are likely to use drugs? Silly policy, silly town, silly school.
A hat with bells on is not funny, it is the jester underneath.
This mandatory testing of sixth graders is ridiculous. Why is a refusal put down as a positive? His school records travel with him, don’t they? If he changes schools, and another school sees a positive drug test in his records, won’t they automatically assume he is a drug user, and treat him differently, for no freaking reason? The school doing the testing is effectively lying, making the boy look bad for doing something he has a right to refuse, and possibly affecting his future.
Another thing that bugs me is that the article states that the parents have to give consent. Sooooooo…if the parents don’t give consent, the school punishes the child. That’s just wrong.
Changing my sig, because Wally said to, and I really like Wally, and I’ll do anything he says, anytime he says to.
Their persons are being “searched” without probable cause by members of the government. In this case, since public schools are partially funded by the Federal Government this is direct violation as govnerment representatives.
In addition, at what point do we stop the school officials from this type of “search”? Next, is it okay for the schools to strip search kids for suspicion of harboring a weapon without the consent of the parents?
If a parent wants their child to opt out of this, then that should be up to the parents. Last I heard we are protected from this type of search. If teaching your child that it is NOT alright and one should stand up for what they believe in, I hope you read the Declaration of Indepence. :rolleyes:
Personally, I would like to see the parents take this to the court system not for the reason I stated. Just think what a good civics lesson it would be.
If I were a parent, I would do the same thing and get one hell of an attorney!
(so I’m not Lib, but next to the next best thing? < hehe >)
Personally, I would like to see the parents take this to the court system not just for the reason I stated but just think what a good civics lesson it would be.
And how many of those 13 were sixth graders? Or high school students at all since all students in grades 6 through 12 have to be tested? I find it disturbing and frightening that 338 sets of parents and apparently many teachers see no problem with this testing. Beware: sheep crossing.
I have a hobby. I have the world’s largest collection of seashells. I keep it scattered on beaches all over the world. Maybe you’ve seen some of it.
Not to mention how “accurate” drug tests are. Some methods have a false positive rate of ~15%. So then a second, more expensive test has to be used to seperate the real ones. I think this whole idea is ludicrous. AvenueB, if you’re comfortable with the government looking into everything you do, its a shame you can’t move to Stalinist Russia. Personally, I prefer the privacy and freedom we have here, which is evaporating away each time something like this happens. Whoever came up with this idea should be flogged and hanged for treason, and those who supported it should be deported. Every single thing about this sends the complete opposite message to our kids that they should be receiving. I am surprised that the ACLU isn’t all over this school district’s ass. (I hope it is and I just haven’t heard about it.)
-Dave
It’s not how you pick your nose, it’s where you put the boogers
My local paper, the Amarillo Globe News, thinks this drug testing policy is just peachy. An excerpt from its editorial on the subject: “We continue to believe that drug use among teen-agers is one of society’s worst scourges and must be fought vigorously by law-enforcement authorities, parents, clergy, and educators at all levels.”
And: “Our own view is that the school system is acting responsibly and in the best interests of students and their parents.”
You may remember the court case about mandatory drug testing for extracurricular activities in Tulia, Texas. That case is still in court. Meanwhile, it’s become increasingly common for schools here to have mandatory drug testing for extracurricular activities. According to the AP article from the Amarillo paper on 2/4, the school board in Lockney “decided after a series of community meetings to require tests of everyone because it seemed unfair to single out students enrolled in extracurricular activities”.
Even more scary, this one kid is the only kid out of 400 students whose parents objected to the policy by refusing to sign the “consent”.