Juneau School district plans intervention for drug and alcohol abuse

At a special meeting Monday morning, the Juneau School District Board of Education unanimously sanctioned a final required drug-testing policy for high school student athletes.

As per draft rules and regulations and board discussion, students may be examined for alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, nicotine, opiates, oxycodone, methamphetamine and steroids.

Superintendent Glenn Gelbrich is currently working with medical professionals to specify proper maximum levels for alcohol and tobacco, which will be set prior to policy implementation.

Gelbrich said changes discussed at Monday’s meeting would be worked prior to the drug-testing policy’s intended implementation date of Oct. 19. The district’s intervention for drug and alcohol worries included four unique intervention methods.

The first is an daily contact between a concerned school staff member or coach and parents or guardians. The second is a “suspicion-based” referral in which, depending on evidence of drug use, a school administrator may refer the student to a drug or alcohol counselor or school nurse and could take disciplinary measures.

The other two methods are the imposed random drug testing for student athletes and voluntary random drug testing.

Students who opt to take part in voluntary random drug testing will be chosen in the same random as those in the mandatory program, but the two programs are unique.

From Juneau Empire:

The school board also added an educational component to the policy, specifying that the superintendent will direct the education of students and parents and the training of staff in the program’s operation and requirements, work with other agencies to improve local support systems for students who are identified through the program, and provide for the periodic assessment of the effectiveness of the program.

Tags: drug testing, Steroids

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