In the wake of passing a new random drug test policy that will take effect this fall, the Butler Area School District is reiterating to parents its commitment to helping students stay away from drugs.
Butler School Superintendent Brian White emailed a letter to parents on Sunday talking about the district’s new random drug testing policy and detailing how the district will continue to work towards preventing students from doing drugs.
In the letter, White said he’s talked to a number of parents in the last week following the school board’s decision to implement a new drug policy, and many said they wished a similar policy had been in effect when their children were in school. Many shared experiences of how addiction has affected their child’s lives- and it started when they were in school.
“One call (I received) was from a parent of a former student. As we were speaking he said, “If I only knew…” His child started using drugs before he knew it. His child has been in and out of rehab multiple times. He was calling to share that he wished this program would have been in place for his child, because if he had known, maybe his child’s life would be dramatically different today,” White said.
District data shows the number of drug and alcohol-related incidents resulting in disciplines has continuously grown over the past three years- going from 8 in the 2015-16 school year, to 21 in the 2017-18 year, according to White. He says the district knows they must confront the problem- and have begun to do so through several programs currently in place at the Middle, Intermediate and High School.
“The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, not just our community, is in the middle of crisis. Our local data confirms that we- like many communities- must confront this issue,” White said.
White went on to say that the school board will be reviewing the district’s overall drug and alcohol policy to determine whether long suspensions of students who have gotten in trouble for drugs really helps deter or diminish substance abuse or if other strategies should be considered.
The Butler School District is now the fourth district in the county to have a random drug testing policy in place. Student athletes, participants in district extracurricular activities and students who request a parking permit will be subject to random tests, beginning in this coming school year. For more details on the policy, click here.
“Our entire goal is prevention,” White said.
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