School Board Passes Drug Testing Policy

After several revisions over the course of a few months, the McDonald County R-1 School District Board of Directors approved a new drug testing policy at its meeting July 14.

The drug testing will be applied randomly to student athletes in grades seven through 12 at a rate of 50 students per month. The board had considered doing mandatory tests for all students in grades nine through 12 and following up with random tests, but the school district’s lawyers advised against it. The board had also considered including co-curricular activities, such as band, in the drug testing policy, but lawyers recommended starting with athletics only.

A year from now, the board plans to re-examine the policy with hopes of extending the policy to students in co-curricular activities.

The penalty for a first offense is that the student will be suspended from their extracurricular activities for 40 percent of the season. During this time, it is recommended that the parent or guardian obtain a substance abuse evaluation and education or counseling for the student. For a second offense, the student will be suspended from extracurricular activities for 180 school days from the date of the report. For a third offense, the student will be suspended from all extracurricular activities for the length of their enrollment in the school district.

Mark Stanton, district superintendent, said, “(The policy) gives our students another reason to say no to drugs. As adults we need to do everything we can to help our students, and I think the design of the policy will do that. I appreciate all the efforts of athletic director Nick Martin in helping formulate the policy, as well as our school board.”

In other business, the board voted to seek bids for a dishwasher for Noel Elementary School.