Arkadelphia Passes Random Drug Testing Resolution for Student Activities

UPDATE: 

The Arkadelphia School Board unanimously approved mandatory drug tests for students.

The measure requires students in grades 6 through 12 who participate in extracurricular activities to submit to random drug testing.

The district believes this will encourage students to say no to drugs.

ORGINAL STORY:

The Arkadelphia School Board will vote on a proposal to drug test students Tuesday night.

The measure would apply to everyone involved in student activities, from 6th grade all the way to graduation.

With finals out of the way, student athletes at Arkadelphia high school are jump shooting straight into spring training. But many may have to pass an extra exam before they hit the hardwood- a random drug test.

"It gives them an out," said David Maxwell, principal of Arkadelphia High School. "It gives them a way to be proactive and say, 'No, I can't do that.'"

Maxwell says the district has been talking about drug testing since he arrived in Arkadelphia in 2009.

If the proposal passes, all students involved in extracurricular activities would have to agree to random testing. Parents would also have to sign off on the testing.

And it wouldn't be limited to athletes, but all students involved in extra-curricular activities, including band, choir and JROTC.

"If a kid walks into some odd house, and they're smoking dope, he can just say, "Guys, I'm a varsity athlete. I can't stay here,'" Maxwell said.

The proposal doesn't say how many students will be tested, what drugs they'll test for, or how much it will cost.

Maxwell says they'll figure it out as they go.

"We don't know. We don't have to know, and that's okay as long as we have the policy in place," he said.

If passed, Maxwell said drug testing will begin with the summer golf season.