The St. Clair County Board of Education has approved a new school-based student random drug and alcohol testing policy. While a drug testing policy has been in place for the school system in the past, this policy includes a very important component — counseling.
Charity M. Richey-Bentley is president and CEO of the Northeast Alabama Center for Community Initiatives (NACCI), and she wrote the grant that funded the changes and revisions of this policy with the help of St. Clair Schools Assistant Superintendent John Moore.
The grant is for $600,000 and is good for three years.
Richey-Bentley said the St. Clair County Board of Education's decision to randomly drug-test students is a reflection of what members are willing to do to keep youths off drugs.
“Drug-testing is a deterrent, the strongest prevention a school system can put in place,” Richey-Bentley said. “The NACCI wrote the policy and developed the program for the school system. We will also be administering the grant. We will hire the program coordinator and do all of the program's reporting.”
St. Clair Schools Superintendent Jenny Seals said she is honored the school system accepted and received this grant.
“This helps us because a new policy in place is going to make for safer schools,” Seals said. “We have never had a lot of students who have tested positive for drugs. I am glad we have the counseling that comes with this policy. Going through counseling is very important for kids who happen to test positive for drugs. We are excited about having this in place.”
The policy only involves students in grades seven through 12.
“In the past, we randomly tested 30 students per month throughout the school system,” said Moore. “Now, we anticipate testing 50 to 60 students.”
Moore said the testing is not just for student-athletes.
“This is also for students who participate in extra-curricular competitive activities such as scholar bowl, debate team, etc.,” said Moore. “Student can also volunteer to be tested. We are considering running the volunteer portion of this program through each school’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes.”
Moore said the nicest part of this grant is how it provides follow-up counseling for students who test positive for drugs.
“This has been an area of need here in this school system,” he said. “In the past, we informed the parents and the student sat out two athletic venues. Now, they still have to sit out two athletic venues, and there is a substance abuse counselor who can work with that family and address the problem.”
