The Butler Area School District is now the fourth district in the county to have a random drug testing policy in place.
The school board voted 8-1 during a meeting on Monday on the nine-page policy, which mandates that high school students who elect to drive to school, participate in extra-curricular activities and are student athletes will be subject to random urine drug tests. The testing will start this fall.
Butler’s policy was modeled after existing policies in the Mars and Seneca Valley school districts. It’s illegal to subject the entire student body to random drug testing so stipulations have to be made.
Officials hope the policy will be a deterrent to students thinking about using drugs or alcohol, or help students struggling get the help they need.
Many of the procedures to administer the drug policy are still being figured out.
Superintendent Dr. Brian White said $10,000 from the district’s general fund will be set aside to pay for the tests. White will next put out a ‘Request for Proposals’ to determine what company will perform the testing.
A couple of parents asked that the administration of the policy be done fairly. Solicitor Tom King called the move “the most that legally can be done” in order to address the problem of drugs in Butler schools.
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