Why Teacher Drug Testing Should Be Avoided
Justin Bathon on Thursday, May 14, 2009 at 6:57PM It is just a nightmare procedurally.
You probably haven't been following it, but I am a casual NASCAR fan and my favorite driver growing up was Jeremy Mayfield. A week ago Mayfield was the first big driver to be caught in NASCAR's drug testing scheme. Mayfield has claimed it was a mix of over the counter and prescription drugs, but NASCAR is indefinitely suspending him without telling him or the public what the offending drug was. NASCAR's drug testing policy, implemented in the absence of a driver's union, is harsh and secretive. But, because it is harsh and secretive, when it ruins a driver's career like Mayfield's, it is almost guaranteed to be challenged in court. NASCAR allowed Mayfield to race after testing positive on the first sample, so it is questionable just how dangerous Mayfield was, if at all, on the track. And, now that they have caught him, they are probably looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars defending their actions.
As education moves closer and closer to randomly drug testing teachers (2), we should learn a lesson from NASCAR here. NASCAR is a billion dollar sport with virtually unlimited resources to test their small cadre of privately employed drivers and crew ... and their drug testing scheme is a procedural nightmare and may well wind up an embarrassment when this hits the court system. Schools, with limited resources and public, frequently unionized, employees, is going to be even a harder drug testing system to procedurally manage and it will have to be done with far fewer resources. Implementing teacher drug testing systems is going to be a nightmare for schools procedurally and state officials need to really consider whether it is worth that cost.
Reader Comments (2)
Teachers at my school are required to have drivers' licenses for 'short' school buses, since we run all our own transportation for field trips, athletics, and school programs. State law governs the issuance of these licenses. Since the law creates both the conditions for drug testing and procedure, it neatly sidesteps the problem of whether or not it is a good idea to test us. "The state DMV demands it, so we do."
When it ruins a career, I'll let you know.
Please do. I know you are probably skeptical that it will, but even false positives can cause lots of problems in districts. Even a hint of anything wrong and the rumor mills will swirl. I saw this at the school I taught at where there was some hint or other that our principal (that I liked) had taken some of his wife's prescription drugs (she was ill) and got "high" ... whatever that meant. Two years later he resigned and everyone was glad to see him go even though he was a decent principal. In these situations perception is more important than reality and perception is a very hard thing to control.