Following a request from a group of Alliance High School students, the Alliance School Board took action at its meeting on June 12, voting 3-1 to enact a drug testing policy at Alliance Middle School and Alliance High School.
The issue has been brought before the board in the past, but it is the first time the members have voted to enact the policy. Superintendent Dr. Troy Unzicker explained that the first time the issue came before the board it was brought up by parents.
“Several years ago, a couple of parents brought this forward, and when we discussed it at a board meeting with the board and those parents, it became clear they were looking at identifying certain kids and trying to identify them as drug users, and that’s not how it works,” said Unzicker. “The drug testing is limited to people who participate in extracurricular activities. The courts have upheld the competitive activities, but it’s kind of a gray area on other activities. We’ll be careful about which groups are allocated into that.”
Unzicker said the district is still planning the best course of action for implementing the policy. He explained there are a number of views in the community regarding the testing, noting that the district has already been testing staff members.
“A lot of people believe we shouldn’t be testing our kids when we’re not testing our adults, but we are testing all the adults we’re allowed to by the courts,” said Unzicker. “They also feel they should test all of our kids, and all of the court rulings have shown that’s not allowable. With the passing of this policy, we will be testing who we are capable of testing.”
Unzicker said the issue was brought before the board again last fall by the Wellness Committee, but the policy was voted down by the board in a 4-2 vote. Prior to that vote, the district hosted a community survey regarding the policy, which received 294 responses. Of the respondents, 65 percent agreed with the implementation of the policy, 30 percent opposed the policy and five percent were in favor of implementing the policy at either Alliance High School or Alliance Middle School, but not both.
A group of students sent Unzicker an email this spring regarding the policy, and asking to have it put on the agenda. He forwarded the request to the board members and informed them that it takes two board members request an item be placed on the agenda before it comes before them at a meeting.
“When I put out the June agenda originally, it wasn’t on there,” Unzicker said. “Well, I emailed the kids and let them know that two board members had not come forward. They evidently made some calls, because within a half hour, I had two board members asking. We amended it to put that back on there. It wasn’t a large group. About a dozen of them total had their names on the letter.”
The students gathered at the board’s meeting, asking that the board consider their request to implement the policy during public comment. Unzicker explained that there were a few minor changes between the policy that came before the board in June and the policy presented by the Wellness Committee last fall.
Board Member Shana Brown made the motion to approve the policy, and the motion was seconded by Board Member Tim Richey. Prior to the vote, Board President Tim Kollars said he believes the policy is discriminatory.
“I’d like to say I still think this is a discriminatory policy and has no chance of working because it’s never been proved to work before,” said Kollars. “We’ll see what happens.”
Richey asked Kollars why he believes the policy is discriminatory, and Kollars said that it only tests a portion of the student body.
Board Members Jake Sylvester, Brown and Richey voted to approve the policy, and Kollars voted against it. Board Members Dave Rischling and Edison Red Nest III were not present at the meeting to vote.
“Now we’re in the process of organizing and seeing what this is going to look like,” said Unzicker.