Under a new provision added to Dallas ISD’s Board Policy concerning “Student Rights and Responsibilities,” students may be drug-tested at school if their parents have agreed in advance to participate in the District’s drug prevention initiative.

The Dallas ISD Board of Trustees voted unanimously for the measure at last night’s monthly meeting, conceived as part of broader effort to combat drugs in Dallas schools.

The strategy is intended for therapeutic purposes only: no disciplinary or criminal measures will be taken in the event a student tests positive for illegal drugs. Instead, the student and parent will be referred to drug counseling, prevention and intervention services.

“We wanted to make sure that school employees, students, community members and parents were aware we offered the program as a prevention measure as well as an early intervention for students around substance abuse,” explained Paige Marsh, of the District’s office for Safe and Drug Free Schools.

A smaller program has been in place for over a decade. “We recognized the importance of having the [new] policy in place so that all involved, especially students and parents, would know that they are safe in asking for the test since no punitive code of conduct violation or criminal charges would result from the testing.”

The cost is about $15 per drug test, which the District will absorb using grant funds from the U.S. Department of Education. Ms. Marsh anticipates the annual cost of the program to be approximately $160,000.

Other business: Among the 40-odd construction and vendor contracts approved by the Board include $615,000 to upgrade computer labs at 26 elementary schools and $7,500 for the keynote speaker to facilitate a “Collaborative Learning” professional development seminar in October.

The Board also re-upped its +/- $1,000,000 contract with the National Center for Educational Accountability, which monitors the progress of the District’s improvement plan and provides guidance implementing “best practices” on several campuses throughout the school year.

When I grow up, I want to be a consultant.

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