High School Drug Testing Plan Rejected

A plan to grant store discounts to Antelope Valley high school students who agree to undergo random on-campus drug testing, an idea that students supported but school officials opposed, was rejected Tuesday night by the region’s high school district.

The 4-1 vote by the Antelope Valley Union High School District came about six months after a sheriff’s deputy-turned-minister suggested the plan for the unusual drug-free youth club.

“Everything we’re talking about is pure conjecture. We don’t know that this is going to do one thing” to inhibit drug use, board member Jarold Wright said.

Supt. Kenneth Brummel recommended against allowing the drug-testing at the six campuses of the 11,000-student district. Brummel said he was unsure about the accuracy of the tests and was concerned that students who chose not to participate could have been branded as drug users by their peers.

Under the plan by Billy Pricer, founder of the Palmdale-based United Community Action Network, students pledging not to use drugs would have received a membership card good for discounts at local stores. To keep it, students would have to submit to random drug testing.

Pricer said after the vote that he was disappointed but that he planned to continue to work to set up such a program. He conceded, however, that it would be much more difficult without the school district’s cooperation.

The only board member who favored the program was Steve Landaker. “It’s not going to cost our district a dime to do this,” he said. “I don’t understand why we’re not doing it.”

Pricer’s group would have paid for the drug tests, but the tests would have been administered in restrooms at the school campuses. Brummel also objected because he said the schools needed to have the restrooms available for use by students.

Pricer’s program would have been the first of its kind in the state and had drawn support from city officials and civic leaders in Lancaster and Palmdale. And, despite school officials’ doubts, a majority of students also liked the idea, according to a student survey.

Nearly two-thirds of the students surveyed by a student organization said they would take the free urine test if they were convinced the results would remain confidential. Under Pricer’s proposal, students testing positive would have been offered a retest and counseling if warranted.

But students were evenly divided on whether they thought the program would actually affect students who use illegal drugs.

The so-called “drug-free youth” club was patterned after similar programs in Smith County, Tex., where up to 95% of the students in some schools agreed to join.