Students at Marist High School may be subjected to yet another test next school year, but it’s one they can prepare for by doing nothing at all. <\/p>\n
Principal Larry Tucker insists a proposed new drug testing policy at the school isn’t geared toward punishing students at the coed Catholic school in Chicago’s Mount Greenwood community. <\/p>\n
Instead, he said, drug testing would be an extension of the school’s “family” atmosphere. <\/p>\n
“Part of our mission is to help kids continue to make good decisions,” he said. “It’s part of who we are.” <\/p>\n
Tucker said he was impressed by the drug-free compliance rates at other schools in Marist’s East Suburban Catholic Conference, whose principals boast remarkable success rates. <\/p>\n
Under the proposal, Marist’s entire student body would undergo a drug test at least once each school year – during the first semester – and possibly again during random tests in the second semester. <\/p>\n
The tests, which cost about $45 per session, likely would be taken via hair follicle samples and administered by Psychemedics Corp., a Massachusetts-based company that specializes in narcotics testing in schools and private industry. <\/p>\n
The tests would look for traces of marijuana, cocaine, PCP, Ecstasy, amphetamines and certain classes of prescription drugs, but not steroids. <\/p>\n
Marist’s faculty would be exempt. <\/p>\n
The idea of implementing the policy was kicked around during a sparsely attended special meeting this week, and its future now rests with a 20-some person school task force and could be cemented with a Marist school board vote. <\/p>\n
Roberta Hynes is part of that team. <\/p>\n
A parent of a 14-year-old Marist freshman, she’s backing the proposal 100 percent because “it’s such a great benefit for Marist, the community and children. <\/p>\n
“It can give parents relief,” she said. ” ‘Oh, my God, my child is using,’ or ‘Oh, thank God they aren’t.’ ” <\/p>\n
But the idea of a schoolwide test has been met with opposition, including a small Facebook group. <\/p>\n
As school let out on Friday, many groups of students said they opposed the testing – not because they take drugs but because the testing seems costly and unnecessary. <\/p>\n
Some students said most of their peers don’t take hard drugs, if they take them at all. And what substances do get used, such as chewing tobacco and alcohol, probably wouldn’t show up on test results anyway, they said. <\/p>\n
“Maybe they should just test suspected students,” 16-year-old sophomore Kevin Kelly said. <\/p>\n
“It’s not worth it,” 15-year-old freshman Chris Jackson said. “My parents aren’t happy about it, either.” <\/p>\n
But many parents in the Marist community are supporting the proposal. <\/p>\n
Therese Gray, whose 18-year-old son will have graduated by the time the tests would start, said she backs the testing, despite any privacy issues. <\/p>\n
“Drugs and alcohol are illegal, so is it invading my child’s’ privacy? When it comes to my child, it probably isn’t,” she said. “It means my child’s safe at school.” <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services<\/a><\/p>\n Multiple choice. Essays. Pop quizzes. Students at Marist High School may be subjected to yet another test next school year, but it’s one they can prepare for by doing nothing at all. Principal Larry Tucker insists a proposed new drug testing policy at the school isn’t geared toward punishing students at the coed Catholic school […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-345336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345336\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/img><\/a>
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