New Jersey High School Expands Student Drug Testing

by Dave Hinz - Publisher
2/4/07

Pequannock Township High, in Pequannock, NJ has unleashed a mini firestorm by instituting random drug testing of students capable of detecting alcohol use more than three days prior to the test.

Under a program instituted in 2005, Pequannock students who participate in sports or other extracurricular activities are already subject to random screening using the EtG test, which screens for ethyl glucuronide, a substance produced by the body when it metabolizes alcohol.

This expansion of the testing already being done is funded by a three-year $120,000 federal grant.

"This is a major issue for America," School Superintendent Larrie Reynolds said Tuesday. "There are more kids that die each year in alcohol-related traffic deaths than there are soldiers who have died in Iraq. The numbers are staggering."

The school’s actions, however, have raised the ire of civil libertarians such as the New Jersey branch of the American Civil Liberties Union. They see the drug testing as an invasion of privacy.

"Medical care and treatment are issues between parents and children," said Deborah Jacobs, executive director of the New Jersey group.

Nobody will be kicked out of school, or removed from activities because of a positive test, Superintendent Reynolds points out. Instead, they will receive drug counseling and their parents will be notified.

The parental notification is one of the issues the ACLU sees as a privacy issue.