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Indian Lake School Board President Mark Albright knew after listening to a father’s tale of losing his son to drug addiction that he wanted to do something to help prevent that from happening in his school district.
“It’s pretty obvious if you read the news or watch TV, the United States has a drug problem; Ohio has a drug problem; and if you ask (Washington Township Police Chief) Rick Core, he’ll tell you we have a drug problem locally,” Mr. Albright said at the Thursday evening rescheduled regular school board meeting.
“It impacts all levels of society and it isn’t just in big cities; it’s in the rural communities, too. If our schools can help in some way, it is our responsibility to do so.”
He said he was moved to begin asking what could be done after Wayne Campbell of Columbus shared the story of his son Tyler’s death of a drug overdose in the Tyler’s Light program that visited the Indian Lake High School in 2015.
One thing Mr. Campbell suggested was a districtwide drug testing program that may be able to catch student athletes like Tyler or individuals in extracurricular activities before they reach the point of full-blown addiction. It also gives a positive tool for teens to say “no” to drugs, Mr. Albright said.
“In schools that have drug testing policies, it gives students faced with a decision an out,” the board president said. “It allows a student who doesn’t want to do that an excuse to save face — to say ‘I can’t because I don’t want to get kicked off the team.’ Sometimes that can be easier than saying ‘No, I don’t want to do that.’”
Mr. Albright broached the subject several months ago and Superintendent Pat O’Donnell has begun researching the issue, including conducting surveys of three of 13 area school districts that have drug testing policies in place.
The board president, however, said he believes the time is right as two new members – Gabe Wickline and Chad Ross – joined the board at the start of the year and land deals in Huntsville and Lakeview are now complete.
Mr. O’Donnell noted that the district already has drug abuse prevention and education programs in place at all educational levels and staff are trained to respond to indications or admissions of drug use and provide counseling.
He also noted that drug-sniffing dogs are brought into the schools usually twice per year as a free service of the local law enforcement community.
Board member Steve Spath said if the district implements a drug testing policy, he would like to see it applied to as many students as possible, but he also questioned the cost effectiveness of it.
“As I’m sitting here trying to justify the dollars, we need to know what all we’re doing as prevention,” he said. “If it costs $500 to $600 to test a few random students, could that money be better used in a prevention program?
“I don’t think we’re going to have a big negative public outcry, but we may get some ‘I’m giving you money to educate my children and you’re using it to drug test them.”
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Members of Indian Lake High School’s vocal jazz ensemble serenade the district school board as part of School Board Recognition Month during the Thursday evening board meeting. (EXAMINER PHOTO | REUBEN MEES) |
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