Last updated : November 11, 2024
Three Catholic high schools in the Cleveland area took stand against drug use among students by implementing a mandatory drug testing policy.
Administrators at Gilmour Academy, St. Ignatius and St. Edward high schools notified students in special assemblies last spring, and informed parents about the planned testing via email. The policy will require students to provide hair samples for testing, which will affect more than 2,800 students who attend the three schools. School administrators stated the testing is intended to serve as a wellness initiative and are not punitive in nature. In fact, officials say the announcement was issued prior to the summer break because they wanted students who engaged in prior substance use to have the chance to abstain from those activities and clean out their systems in time for testing.With hair analysis, drug use can be detected as far back as 90 days. In addition to the mandatory testing of all students in the fall, random testing will continue throughout the school year.
The program is meant to serve as a deterrent to youths who may consider experimenting with drugs in the future, and as an avenue for providing students who are struggling with substance abuse with the resources they need to obtain counseling and treatment. School officials have also expressed hope that the new policy will afford students a powerful weapon to use if and when they encounter pressure from their peers to use drugs.
The ongoing heroin epidemic in the Northeast region of Ohio was what prompted the testing initiatives at all three of the schools, according to administrators from each campus.
School-wide drug-testing is not new in Ohio, but it has not been done at any schools in Northeastern Ohio until now. In 2012, drug testing for students and staff began at St. John’s Jesuit High School and Academy in Toledo, joining more than 200 other schools that have commissioned the world’s largest provider of hair analysis drug testing, Psychemedics Corp. of Boston. The company will perform the testing for all three of the Cleveland area Catholic schools.
The Boardman school district, located near Youngstown, is considering a mandatory drug testing policy aimed at student athletes and any student who drives themselves to school.
George Elder with Phychemedics said the initiative is about deterrence, not catching a student doing something wrong. Elder, who implemented mandatory drug testing during his tenure as a school administrator in Tennessee prior to his work with the drug testing company, said less than one percent of the students tested positive during the first year. That trend continued in the years that followed.
St. Ignatius president, Rev. William Murphy, said while mandatory random testing will be new at his school, drug testing on an individual basis has occurred in the past, either at the request of parents or because student behavior indicated a potential problem.
“But this hasn’t happened very often,” added Murphy.
Parents offered a mixed bag of reactions, ranging from those who oppose the testing outright to others who say they approve of it because they believe it will help curb the growing drug problem in the Cleveland region.
“Anything you can do to combat this issue,” said parent Karen Perkowski.
