By Liz Beavers
lbeavers@newstribune.info
Tribune Managing Editor
KEYSER – If the Mineral County Board of Education implements a random drug-testing policy for 2 percent of the total number of activity students and student drivers in the county, it could cost the school system an estimated $6,480 or more a year.
Cautioning the board members that he “does not think you should approve the policy based on what I knew would not be a large cost,” Superintendent of Schools Skip Hackworth presented them with information on test costs which he had obtained from Sports Safe Testing, an Ohio-based firm which currently provides drug testing services for Cabell and Jackson counties in West Virginia.
The cost estimates were based on a 10-panel screening, which tests students for alcohol, amphetamines/methamphetamine, barbiturates, benzodiazepines (Valium), cocaine, Marijuana, methadone, opiates such as Oxycontin and Vicodin, phencyclidine and propoxyphene such as Darvon.
“It costs $27 a student,” he said, adding that the cost of other available tests include EtG alcohol, $10; Ecstasy, $3; LSD, $22; nicotine, $9; and performance enhancing drugs, $90.
Hackworth told the officials that there are 325 activity students and 175 student drivers at Frankfort High School and 475 activity students and 200 stu-
dent drivers at Keyser High School, bringing the number of students subject to testing to 1,175. With only two percent of those students to actually be tested, Hackworth estimated 24 students each month, or 240 students a year for the 10-month school year, would bring the cost to $6,480 for the minimal test.
Those numbers will grow, however, because the estimate does not include any additional students who might “opt in” to the program.
It also does not include the “support” students – managers, mat maids, score keepers, etc. - which the board members decided Tuesday night should be included in the mix.
“Any student who must keep the same GPA, meet the same standards, in order to participate should be included,” board member Kevin Watson said.
“As far as I'm concerned, they're part of the team,” Board President Terry LaRue said.
Prior to the discussion of the proposed policy Tuesday night, two persons addressed the board, raising several questions.
Noting that he has a number of questions about several gray areas within the policy, Coach Joe Altobello urged the officials to “be as concise as possible” with the wording.
He questioned the advisability of havong only one deadline by which students must sign up for the testing, and what action would be taken if a parent did not attend the mandatory orientation.
LaRue told him there would be multiple dates for students to opt in, and there would also be more than one chance to attend orientation.
According to board member Bob Shook, if three orientations were scheduled at Keyser and three at Frankfort, all parents would have the opportunity to attend any one of the six.
“Other counties have told me, if the child wants to play, they get the parent there,” Hackworth said.
Hackworth also said the drug-testing company would be asked to provide a DVD of the orientation for use by those students who might move into the county mid-year.
Butch Wahl, the other audience member to address the board, questioned, among other things, the duration of the required counseling for those students who test positive, as well as the consequences.
Noting that the policy is totally different from the student code of conduct, which outlines the county's action if a student is caught with drugs on school property and results in expulsion, Hackworth said the point of the drug-testing policy is to help those kids who have “made a mistake.”
“If a student goes to mandated counseling that evening (that he tests positive) ... it's possible that student would not miss any days” of practice or play, he said.
As for the required amount of counseling, he suggested that “be left up to the professional.”
The board members directed Hackworth to make the changes discussed during Tuesday's meeting and bring the proposed policy back to them at the next meeting.
“We need to decide one way or another about this next Tuesday evening,” LaRue said.
Keyser, W.Va. —
