AP reports:
A private school in east Georgia intends to start drug-testing its oldest students.
The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reports that Brookstone School in Columbus recently announced that the drug-testing of students in grades 8-12 will be voluntary next school year — and then mandatory in succeeding years.
Read more on Ledger-Enquirer.
And yes, of course they can get away with doing that as a precondition of acceptance or attendance. They’re a private school. But here’s the thing: parents are waiving their children’s privacy rights. Now I know a lot of parents are just fine with that because they want to know if their child is using drugs. And somewhere, I’m guessing, this school actually/hopefully has a written policy about what happens with the results, for how long they are retained, and with whom they might be shared. And what is the testing facility’s privacy policy? Will they be sent the students’ names as identifiers or just numbers/IDs? And who might they share results with and under what circumstances?
Much to think about here….
h/t, Doug Levin