Goodrich- Drug testing will not be part of the activities policy.
At the Monday night school board meeting, the high school policy committee recommended that drug testing for students would not be part of the athletic student handbook for the 2013-14 school year.
In January, School Board President David Cramer suggested, with support from other board members, that testing students for drugs is needed and would be considered.
‘Since then we have taken recommendations from community members, principals and athletes and they suggested that if we updated the current policy that would be sufficient at this time. However, the penalties are stiffer for infractions, the suspension times are much longer. The penalty will even carry over into the next year or season.?
‘We have had the (drug) dogs in the high school and middle school building several times and they are finding less and less each time,? he said. ‘We are being diligent and go after the problem.?
Board members had suggested testing as many students as possible in the districts whether it’s tied to obtaining a parking pass, athletics or extracurricular activities.
According to news reports, Genesee County led the way for student drug testing as the Grand Blanc School District became the first Michigan school to drug test student athletes. A landmark legal decision in 2003 upheld the district’s right to drug test student athletes on the basis that sports are a voluntary activity. The practice continues. After the Grand Blanc decision, Clio and Lake Fenton schools located in the county started athlete drug testing.