Collegiate Times

The threat of new drug screening policies loom over area schools.  

The Montgomery County School Board has looked at research on the results of implementing mandatory-random student drug testing (MRSDT), although the school system isn’t considering a new drug testing policy at the present time.

Virginia public schools have begun creating mandatory student drug testing policies after the 2003 Virginia General Assembly amended the Code of Virginia, giving school systems the option to develop policies for voluntary and mandatory drug testing for students. 

The law does not require drug testing policies in public schools, but it gives local school boards the discretion to require or promote student drug testing.

After the drug testing amendments were passed, the Virginia Department of Education conducted research by studying schools that implemented policies that subject students that violate school drug and alcohol policies to drug testing and compared the results to schools that do not have a drug testing program.

Many of the schools that participated in research also submitted some students that participated in school sports and activities to drug testing, in addition to those who had already violated school drug and alcohol policy.

A report and summary of the research was disseminated to the Montgomery County School Board during a regular school board meeting held earlier this month.

The research includes observations from Roanoke, Buchanan, Russell, Dinwiddie, Fairfax, Henry, Mathews, Northumberland, Scott, and York counties, along with the cities of Falls Church, Fredericksburg, Galax, and Norfolk. The research states that “the prevalence of illicit substance use among youth remains high and a cause of concern,” although the amount of drug use by teens has decreased over the past decade.

The research also contends that MRSDT is a way to address the student substance abuse problem, along with other prevention and abstinence awareness. The results of the research found that schools that implemented MRSDT reported less usage than schools without a MRSDT program and participation of students participating in school-sanctioned activities was not affected.

According to Brenda Drake-Bowdel, public information officer and clerk of the board for Montgomery County Public Schools, the school board has looked at the research and has not asked to keep the topic on the agenda for future discussion, although Drake-Bowdel said that there is a possibility for future consideration.

“They [school board] have not asked us to bring it back as an agenda item,” Drake-Bowdel said. “That doesn’t mean that they won’t in the future, but at this point, they have not.” Drake-Bowdel was also uncertain about the effectiveness of a program for the Montgomery County school system.

“We would only be able to gauge the amount of people who are caught using drugs so it would be very difficult for us to say, ‘Yes, it would decrease the amount of drug usage in the county,’ when all we could talk about is the amount of students who are caught and brought forward to the board,” Drake-Bowdel said.  

For now, the school board does not have any plan to alter the current drug policy. Current policy states that students possessing or under the influence of drugs and alcohol will be subject to suspension or expulsion.

It is unclear whether implementing MRSDT in Montgomery County would decrease student drug usage.

“Could we eventually reduce those numbers,” Drake said. “It’s a possibility, but you really don’t know until you try a program like that.”

A version of this article appeared in the Jul 28 issue of the Collegiate Times.