Want to get your teenage child drug tested at no cost and no hassle—for you? Then move to the Santa Clarita Valley in Southern California, enroll your kid in the William S. Hart Union High School District and sign him or her up for what is believed to be the nation’s only parental-on-demand drug-testing regimen.
More than 2,000 junior and senior high school students, out of 23,000 in the district, have been signed up for Comprehensive Alcohol and Drug Reduction and Education (CADRE), a three-tiered program of education, counseling and drug testing.
The students don’t get a say about whether they will participate―at least not once their parents have spoken. After enrollment, they are required to take random urine tests and their parents are notified if they skip one. If a student flunks the test, the parents are notified by the lab but not the school. The student has an option of receiving counseling and substance abuse treatment.
District officials say the program, launched in 2008, has been vetted by their attorney and passes legal muster, but the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is not so sure about that. The ACLU won a lawsuit against the Shasta Union High School District over mandatory testing of students participating in extracurricular activities, whether there was cause for suspicion or not.
ACLU attorney Michael Rifsher told the Los Angeles Times he was unfamiliar with the Hart testing program, but if it’s not truly voluntary, it’s problematic because children have privacy rights, too.
Sixty-three of the 1,952 students enrolled in the program last year tested positive for drugs. Marijuana was the drug of choice, but heroin and methamphetamine both showed up in tests. When originally set up, the program tested for 12 drugs, including alcohol, steroids, marijuana and prescription medication.
The program is paid for with federal money, but the grant that provided $216,000 expired in June 2011. The district is reportedly looking at corporate sponsorship to take its place.
–Ken Broder
To Learn More:
School District Performs Drug Tests at Parents’ Request (by Ann M. Simmons, Los Angeles Times)
Students Sign Up for Drug Testing (by Tammy Marashlian, Santa Clarita Valley Signal)