By Liz Beavers
lbeavers@newstribune.info
managing editor

KEYSER — Under the proposal accepted by the Mineral County Board of Education Wednesday, it will cost the county $27 per person to perform random drug testing under the new policy set to go into effect with the 2009-2010 school term.
Superintendent of Schools Skip Hackworth told the board members that Sport Safe Testing Service Inc. of Powell, Ohio, was the only company to submit a bid for the county's drug testing program.
“This is a company that seems to be the leader out there during this type of testing,” he said, noting that the president of the company is actually a medical doctor.
“It's not just somebody out there who thinks (drug testing) is a good idea,” he said.
Cost for an additional test for steroids, which the board members had discussed doing every once in awhile but not on a regular basis, was cited at $90 per
person.
Board member Bob Shook made a motion to accept the bid, and board member Craig Rotruck seconded it. The  motion carried 5-0.
“We'll immediately begin working with the company to prepare our presentation,” Hackworth said, noting that all affected students would be notified of the requirements of the program.
In March, the board members approved the drug testing program by a 4-1 vote, with Board President Terry LaRue voting against the idea.
According to the county's policy, all students who participate in competitions with other schools, as well as those students who drive private vehicles to school, will be subjected to the possibility of a random drug test.