Second Forum on District's Random Drug Testing Slated for Feb. 5

A second community forum on the random drug testing program that the school district is considering will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. in the High School Media Center.

Earlier this month, the school board held its first forum in which school staff presented research and answered questions that concerned residents had regarding the program that the district is aiming to start in the fall of 2013.

“It’s a shame that the district even has to consider this but it’s time,” resident Regina Discenza said at Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting, adding that drug use is rampant in Lacey Township.

Discenza recently met a woman with a son her age, she said. At 47 the son has a serious heart problem due to drug use and is no longer eligible for a transplant.

“So all you invincible high school kids saying it won’t happen to me, it can and it will,” she said. “Illegal drugs will either kill you or shorten your life for certain, even if it’s just the happy weed." 

The program would test all students involved in an extracurricular activity and those with a parking pass. The district would not take punitive action if a student tested positive, Superintendent Dr. Sandra Brower previously said.

More information on the program could be found in “Super: ‘We’re Losing Kids’ to Lacey’s Drug Problem.”

“So to who anyone who thinks the random drug testing is a bad idea, I say too bad,” Discenza said. “If every parent was doing their job, keeping their kids away from drugs, the school district wouldn’t need to do it.”

A symposium, "Raising and Educating a Drug Free Community," will also be held by the Municipal Alliance Task Force at Lacey Township High School on Wednesday, Feb. 27 at 7 p.m.

“It’s something we all struggle with if you have kids,” board member Maureen Tirella said. “You’re always looking for new ways to keep them safe and as you heard tonight, that’s what the school board’s looking at. They have been trying to keep our kids safe from drugs, safe from danger.”

To attend the community forum on the drug testing program, RSVP by Monday, Feb. 4 to Theresa McCarron at 609-971-2002 or via email at tmccarron@laceyschools.org.