BRYANT, AR – Drug testing high school students — it happens in multiple districts around Central Arkansas.
One district is tightening its policy to keep students from skirting around the rules.
In the past, Benton School District’s drug testing police required a once-a-year test that usually happened right before the season would start.
Parents and administration had concerns that the students knew when they had to test and would plan drug use around that.
New Athletic Director, Coach Randy McFarlin, started in July and made updating the drug testing policy a priority.
Now, the tests are random and at least 8 times a year.
Not only do they include athletes in sports and spirit programs, the policy now includes the band.
The School District will now outsource the testing to a lab, Medical Laboratories in Little Rock, rather than just using a school nurse as they have in the past.
Coach McFarlin says the previous policy was unreliable.
Now he hopes they can get ahead of it and help keep kids off of drugs.
“It is proactive,” he said. “It’s giving them… (quoting a student) “I’m in an athletic event. I’m in a spirit group and we do random testing and I’m gonna say no to the use of drugs because I may be drawn in that random test. That gives me a reason to say no.”
There are sanctions for testing positive for drugs.
For the first positive test result the parents will be notified and the student has to participate in each subsequent random testing for one year.
For the second positive test the student will be suspended from all program activities.
If a student tests positive for drugs a third time the suspension lasts one calendar year.
For comparison, Bryant School District has a very similar policy.
The Little Rock School District has a policy on drug use but does not drug test students.
