Friday, June 17, 2011

Don't Forget The Sparkle Glue And Pee In This Cup, Citizen

Glenn and Kathy Kiederer's 12-year-old daughter wanted to join the school scrapbooking club. The Shohola couple was surprised at the consent form she brought home two years ago. It acknowledged that to be in the club, she would undergo a urine test for drugs and submit to random drug tests in the future.


"I feel I'm being coerced into signing this paper," Glenn Kiederer said Monday during a hearing in Pike County. "To drug test at this age makes it normal for them. If it's normal, when they have children, what will be normal for them? A chip in your arm that tracks where you go?"

The family believes the drug test is a violation of civil rights. The ACLU of Pennsylvania is suing the district on behalf of the Kiederers.


The policy requires some students — those who participate in extracurricular activities or who drive to school — to submit to a mandatory initial drug and alcohol test. Those students must then submit to random testing throughout the year.




If it's that widespread of a problem, parents can drug test and treat their kids.  If the parents do not choose to do so, the school has no right to force this on students.  They teach them their rights in class, and teach them those rights don't apply on the football field... or in scrapbooking meetings.  Our kids deserve our protection.  Don't get me wrong, I am not advocating drug use among children. I am, however, stating that due process and all rights should be respected in the solutions.  If there is that much of a drug problem, perhaps raising awareness and having security measures would be a better option.  Otherwise, we are forcing kids who may be suffering from addiction to hide in the shadows, a pattern that already plagues adult drug users and leads them to avoid activities that might be a healthy replacement for drug use.

This is the wrong way to treat a serious problem.  Not only do we have a Constitutional problem here, but we also have the issue of schools overstepping their boundaries.  Let's nip this in the bud before more damage is done.

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