School district offers drug testing kit to parents!
HEMPFIELD, Pennsylvania - August 19, 2011 - A Pittsburgh area school district is offering take home drug tests to parents.
The test kits will be available to parents of middle school students in the Hempfield School District.
"We would rather be proactive," said HSD Superintendent Andy Leopold. "We have 6,300 students in this district and if we can affect even one family or one child then we're doing our jobs."
The test will be offered to parents and will be voluntary. The results will never be given to the school district. The student cannot be punished in any way by the school system.
"It gives my (children) a way out (while saving face, if they are offered drugs), to say, ‘Hey. I could be tested for drugs at any time. No thank you. I can't,'" said Randy Stoner, a school board member.
Terry Ewing, a former teacher and a mother, says it's about time.
"I think this idea has some merit," she said. "Parents can know for sure what's going on with their children. The school district doesn't want to know the results. This is just for the parents. If they want it, they can request it? Not a bad idea."
The drug testing kits will be offered as part of a comprehensive plan in Hempfield that includes an in-your-face look at the justice system and the danger of drugs.
