Perry-Lecompton High School Principal Mike Copple, pictured Jan. 7, 2016.

Approximately 190 Perry-Lecompton High School students must now submit to random hair tests checking for drugs or alcohol to continue participating in extracurricular activities.

The new policy was unanimously adopted by the Perry-Lecompton board of education, according to minutes from the group’s Nov. 9 meeting. The change came into effect on last Tuesday with the start of a new semester.

District Superintendent Denis Yoder said the new testing strategy is not the result of a drug problem within the school. Rather, the goal is to provide students with an incentive to turn down illegal drugs or alcohol in peer pressure situations.

“The high school’s administration and the board looked at this as a good opportunity for kids to say ‘no’ where they’re put in circumstances where drugs might be an option,” he said.

Every year a few districts throughout the state decide to implement expanded drug testing policies. And every year the American Civil Liberties Union fields calls from concerned citizens, said Doug Bonney, legal director for ACLU’s Foundation of Kansas.

Most callers are concerned about potential Fourth Amendment rights violations, Bonney said. But since the mid-1990s, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled the drug testing of students involved in extracurricular activities as constitutional, a decision ACLU disagrees with, he said.

Others raise concerns about potential privacy violations, Bonney said. But one of the biggest issues is the financing.

“It’s just a big waste of money. And in a time of stressed public school budgets these policies make no sense,” he said. “These are the students least likely to be subjected to peer pressure. These are students who have taken the initiative to be involved in athletics or extracurricular activities. They’re busy students and this is probably not a very efficacious way to achieve that goal of bolstering the spines of students.”

“These dollars could be better used paying teachers, establishing programs, starting classes,” he added.

Drug tests will cost the school $39 per test and alcohol screenings will cost $79 per test, said Perry-Lecompton High School Principal Mike Copple. He would not, however, say how much money the school set aside for student testing.

Hair testing is more accurate and has the ability to detect chemicals months after their consumption, Copple said. Urine tests, another common method, might only detect chemicals for a matter of weeks.

The new testing policy requires students and/or their guardians to give consent to be randomly tested, Copple said. If they do not give consent, they will no longer be allowed to participate in sports, band, debate, cheerleading, dance or any other activities sponsored by the Kansas State High School Activities Association, or KSHSAA.

To ensure randomness, the school will assign each student in the testing pool a five- or six-digit number, Copple said. Then the list of numbers will be sent to the testing company, Psychemedics, which tests schools, police departments and companies across the country.

When the school wants to test a batch of students, it will contact Psychemedics, who will select the desired number of students by their individual numbers at random, Copple said.

There is no set amount of drug or alcohol tests to be conducted each week or month, Copple said.

“On any given month we’re going to do so many of one and so many of the other and the company will be deciding who’s getting what,” he said. “I think we’ll look at the amount of money that we budget for the testing for the year and how many tests we want to do total.”

To distinguish between a possible habitual user and one who may have only briefly experimented with drugs or alcohol, Copple said the testing lab will only test the most recent inch and a half of a student’s hair. This method limits the testing period to the past three months.

“We don’t want to go back and punish them for something that happened a long time ago,” he said.

If a student tests positive for either drugs or alcohol, he or she will be suspended from participating in activities for 21 days, Copple said.

“They’re still able to practice with the team or group because they’re still eligible after,” he said. “And we provide the parents information on where to get more information and where to get help if you think they need help.”

It’s set up so they’re tested three more times in the coming year at the cost of the parents, he added.

Police will not be notified of positive tests, Copple said. In fact, nobody outside the student, parents and coach or activity sponsor will be made aware of any test results.

Judging from other school districts with similar policies, Bonney said he doesn’t expect the testing will produce much more than aggravation.

“The positive testing rates are extremely low, if there are even any positive results,” he said. “It’s essentially punitive and invasive.”

While many parents and students may see the new testing policy as an invasion of privacy, Bonney said he doesn’t foresee a drop in student participation. Most students want to participate in extracurricular activities to the point where they’re willing to put up with the testing, he said.

Copple said that when the district began discussing the testing, he heard a few privacy concerns, but those were put to rest when parents were told the results would not be made public.

Otherwise, Copple said he has heard little vocal opposition to the new policy.

Whether parents and students are outraged or indifferent to the testing, Bonney said these types of programs are often short-lived.

“I think every few years the districts who adopt these policies also drop them,” he said. “There was no payoff for them.”

In addition, Bonney said there is no indication that one school district adopting new drug testing policies would influence nearby districts to adopt similar policies.

Julie Boyle, communications director for the Lawrence school district, said in an email that Lawrence schools do not randomly test students’ hair.

More information on Lawrence School District policies can be found online at www.usd497.org/Domain/593.

Yoder said Perry-Lecompton High School will allow parents of students not involved in extracurricular activities to opt their children into the drug testing pool if they so wish.

A full outline of the district’s new drug testing policy is available online at www.usd343.net.