Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/11/13/high-school-will-require-manda.html
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It’s hard to believe that the only result of a positive drug test will be private counseling. People are so used to punitive measures being taken against drug users that a program that only provided counseling would seem out of place.
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Badin High School, a private Catholic school in Cincinnati, Ohio
Crossed of my Christmas card list, for good.
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Going to assume ‘illegal’ drugs, not the standard T&R’s that most kids are on, the mood pills that get jammed down their throats And then, oh oh - Mom & Dad give little Johnny CBD pills because modern medicine isn’t helping his ‘X’ problem.
But look, if a kid tests positive for meth… yeah, take them aside for some counseling… but these schemes are never about helping the kids, it is about vilifying them, pointing a finger at them, making an example of them… those numbers will be used as justification for further ‘tests’ (gay, patriotic, faith over law).
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I wouldn’t want to be the teacher responsible for explaining the 4th Amendment to students in civics class.
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I wonder who on the private school’s board of directors is getting kickbacks from the testing and screening company? 600 tests about once a year with follow up for suspects and new admissions, $30,000-$45,000?
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I did some time in Catholic schools growing up in the city of Cleveland. It wasn’t pleasant. Fortunately we ended up moving to an area with good public schools and that changed everything.
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Should be easy. Let them know that if they were in a public school the test wouldn’t be legal. Being on the receiving end of the drug test, I would bet these kids understand the issue much better than their public school counterparts.
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Hmm is something like this even legal? It could be but I would take my kid elsewhere if a school tried to pull this
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Private school, so they could make it part of any enrollment agreement (along with anything else they want), right up to the point where a kid/parent is willing to take them to court. In the current atmosphere, chances of success wouldn’t be very good.
I assume that, unless there is also a clause that the student must be “of the faith”, they could claim a religious exemption. Either way, once they decline, submit that they are asserting their 4th amendment rights vs. unlawful search and seizure. See how far the counselor wants to take it.
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I know, like my immediate reaction was to say, “Hey, this kid is doing something that we believe is bad for them. Better kick them out of school, you know, to make things better.”
If the result really is just confidential counselling then it could be good for the kids, but it’s pretty much impossible for that to be the only result. If this were a public school I’d say students should basically just refuse en masse. But of course as a kid your ability to refuse is tied to your parents’ approval of the program, and I imagine that a private school would check they have the backing of a sizeable portion of their customers before doing something like this (it was probably done to respond to parents’ demands for action).
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How could they differentiate between medicinal marijuana, which is legal in Ohio, and the illegal kind?
Wouldn’t Ritalin and Adderall test postive for speed, because, hey, they are?
I’m sure any number of the medications that they keeps kids on to keep them “calm” will come up as dangerous drugs.
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Should be easy, just don’t teach any civics classes.
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When counseling is required, and can consist of anything the counselors desire, then it is a punitive measure.
Also, I hope they aren’t looking for alcohol because everybody will test positive for holy wine.
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“We’re talking about a health and wellness issue, not a punitive issue,” (principal Brian) Pendergest added. “For their own wellbeing, students should not be doing drugs. We want to help them to make the right choices.”
Then do your job as teachers and teach them how to make well-informed, good choices and think through the ramifications of their decisions. All this move will do is give another lesson in why to distrust authority.
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How will they learn that the kind of people who want authority are almost uniformly total assholes if nobody teaches them?
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Will teachers, admins and support staff also be mandatory tested? If only to set example and precedence?
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There’s no way this hare-brained, authoritarian and possibly corrupt policy can end badly. Nobody will expect the inevitable shit storm. No sir-ee.
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I’m sure they have an abundance of local examples.
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Catholic school? Confidential councilling?
“Stephen, you know the rules. If you don’t submit to the test you have to submit to the school councillor. Now take off your pants.”
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