CHICAGO (CBS) — Students will face mandatory testing for drugs and also alcohol this school year, at one northwest suburban high school.
Concerns about underage drinking prompted St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights to add alcohol to its random drug test policy.
The test will use hair samples to determine whether a student has used alcohol in the past 90 days.
St. Viator administrators say random drug testing of students has been ongoing since 2007, and less than 1 percent have come back positive.
“We’re adding this test because we care about our kids and we want them to be the that best God created them to be,” said Corey Brost, St. Viator President.
“It’s a great vehicle for them to understand that if you’re not going to be accountable to your parents, you’re going to be accountable to somebody,” said Joe Farwell, a parent of a student at St. Viator.
And students say, it may do the job.
“Kids fear getting suspensions from school or detentions even and maybe what their parents will do, if they find out they’re getting caught, so I think it actually will make a difference,” said St. Viator student Miguel Aguilar.
The private school believes it is among the first in Illinois to have a mandatory alcohol testing policy.
A spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union questions the decision, but concedes in this case that because the school is private, only parents can object to the testing.
School officials said the tests won’t pick up trace levels of alcohol from Communion wine. Two positive tests would result in disciplinary action.
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2013/08/05/school-to-use-hair-test-to-screen-to-student-alcohol-use/
I learned something new today … if true … that alcohol consumption can be detected in a hair sample. I didn’t think so, but maybe I’m wrong?
. . .
“We’re adding this test because we care about our kids and we want them to be the that best God created them to be,” said Corey Brost, St. Viator President.”
You lying, sorry POS. The ONLY thing you care about is total control.
““It’s a great vehicle for them to understand that if you’re not going to be accountable to your parents, you’re going to be accountable to somebody,” said Joe Farwell, a parent of a student at St. Viator.”
WOW! Now if that ain’t completely backwards and living in Bizzaroworld, then I don’t know what is. Communism at its finest. Throwing your child to the wolves because you don’t have the balls to deal with your child’s problems yourself, you cowardly, lazy sack of shit.
Yo dumbass, it’s YOUR responsibility as a parent to make sure YOUR kid doesn’t do anything bad and gets punished and held accountable when your kid does. It’s NEVER the school’s job, so stop passing your family problems onto the school. You brought your kid into this world, DEAL WITH IT!!!
I think the article is BS, and the threat of testing hair for alcohol use is another “the church and state can control you” bluff.
Besides the test being very expensive and requiring literally a hank of hair, the reliability of test results for chronic moderate to heavy alcohol use is iffy at best, to say nothing of an occasional drink or even occasional binge. The alcohol metabolites are not stable or impervious to cosmetic treatment.
I wouldn’t doubt that the students are adept at internet searches and have already learned this themselves, and it’s just parents and possibly the school’s administration that believe the threat.
See http://www.soht.org/pdf/Revised%20Alcohol%20marker%20Consensus.pdf.