COLUMBUS, Ga. – A private school in east Georgia intends to start drug-testing its oldest students.
The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reports that Brookstone School in Columbus recently announced that the drug-testing of students in grades 8-12 will be voluntary next school year – and then mandatory in succeeding years.
Brookstone plans to use students’ hair samples which are sent to Psychemedics Corp. to conduct the testing, the newspaper reported. The Massachusetts-based company would then provide test results within a few days.
Psychemedics automatically will test Brookstone students for 18 types of drugs. Alcohol isn’t among them, but parents and guardians may request their child’s test to include alcohol screening, the newspaper reported.
The focus of the program is the health and well-being of students, Brookstone said in a statement.
“There is a national drug crisis impacting all communities and all schools,” it said. “Brookstone is committed to responding to this national health issue and being fully engaged in proactively making a positive difference in the lives of its students.”
School officials added that drug-testing will improve the school’s ability to work with parents and health professionals to help students.
“The daily news has made us all acutely aware of the significance and size of this growing crisis. We must be a part of the solution as we work to save children from this critical health issue,” Jason Branch, chairman of the school’s board of trustees, said in a statement.
Brookstone has about 800 students, including 370 in grades 8-12, school spokeswoman Connie Mansour said.
The reaction from Brookstone parents has been “overwhelmingly positive,” said Marty Lester, the Head of School.
Lester acknowledged “a few” parents have criticized the policy, but the concern has been more about questioning how the policy came about and how it will be implemented, he said. No parents have told him they will remove their child from Brookstone because of the policy, he said.
Brookstone hired Lester 1½ years ago from St. Paul’s Episcopal School in Mobile, Alabama, where students have been drug-tested for a dozen years, he said.
“In all my years there and in all the parent meetings I had to talk about it, I can remember only one that ended badly,” he said. “The other ones all ended with a ‘Thank you.'”
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Information from: Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, http://ledger-enquirer.com
The Atlanta Journal Constitution is another Zionist propaganda device, and here they’re trying to make you believe that parents are overwhelmingly supportive of this gross violation of our fourth article rights.
“…The reaction from Brookstone parents has been “overwhelmingly positive,” said Marty Lester, the Head of School…..”
“….In all my years there and in all the parent meetings I had to talk about it, I can remember only one that ended badly,” he said. “The other ones all ended with a ‘Thank you….’”
I don’t believe it for a minute, because any parent can have their kid tested for drug use if they want to, and many do. This is just more “government” control over the next generation, because they’ve probably given up on trying to control ours.
GREAT INSIGHT JOLLY
“There is a national drug crisis impacting all communities and all schools,”
Created by WHOM???
Oh Really, I think maybe we should start with saving the children who has no one fighting for them, in human trafficking. (NO…. WE WOULD RATHER ACT LIKE IT DOESN’T EXIST..)
Let parents be parents and deal with the children as issues arises. That is what family’s are all about and schools are overstepping boundaries.
WE NEED TO HELP THE CHILDREN WHO HAS NO PROTECTION AT ALL!!!
Orwellian Even brave New World didn’t even talk about taking bits and pieces for samples there’s no way everybody said thank you another bold face lie.