A new policy is going into effect in the Kingston City School District. Meredith Saldana explains:
Here’s how it works, parents will first receive a permission slip for their child to be tested.
“[…]
All students involved in activities like sports or even band and choir, will now have to take a drug test and residents in Kingston are torn on the issue.
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Before any student will be tested, obviously, we will send home a permission slip for the parents,” says McAdams. “If the parents choose not to sign that then their student will no longer be allowed to be in activities, but we will not test any students unless we have parent permission.”
The students will have to take an initial test.
Then, random drug testing will happen throughout the year.
While some feel it’s an invasion of the students privacy, others say it’s just what they need.
Read more on KTEN.
So if parents refuse to sign consent for random drug testing, a child can’t sing in the school choir? So the provision of a free public education is now contingent on parents waiving their child’s privacy rights?
The Kingston City School District reportedly spent a year working out this plan. I wonder how much of that time was spent talking with the ACLU. And I wonder if the U.S. Dept. of Education told them that this was an acceptable policy for a public education system.