Wake school board moves breathalyzer test policy forward

Many school events have used breathalyzer tests for years, Russ Smith, senior director of security for the Wake County Public School System, said. But school administrators have been concerned about the lack of rules surrounding the practice. Smith said he was concerned that some tests could violate existing board policy.

There’s not necessarily a growing concern about alcohol abuse, Smith told a board committee last week.

Few administrators said they were getting very many positive tests of intoxication, Smith said.

School staff would administer them, not police officers or school resource officers.

“You don’t bring a deputy in to administer breathalyzers and start arresting students at the prom… we’re having staff member do it just to make sure no one’s drunk,” board attorney Neal Ramee told the board during last weeks’ committee meeting. Intoxication, by itself, is not required to be reported to law enforcement, he said.

Officials would be required to notify parents and guardians when tests will be required, along with positive test results for their children.

If the student is intoxicated, per the test, officials can refuse the student entry into the event, and they must contact families to arrange safe travel back home.

The tests would be done in private, when “feasible,” if they are based on suspicion.

The school board only very briefly discussed the policy Tuesday night, before approving it to move to a final vote at its next board meeting. Policies must have two readings before they can be adopted. The second and final reading will occur at the next meeting.

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Board Vice Chairman Chris Heagarty said he supported the policy, because it establishes a formal way to screen for drunkenness that could be at dangerous levels and find a way to help those students get home safely.

“I think it can be a deterrent,” Heagarty said during the committee meeting. “I think it can save lives.”

Before the vote, board members said they were glad the school system required parent notification of the tests, as several had suggested at a prior policy committee meeting.

“Personally I think a parent needs to be notified right away,” Board Member Heather Scott said at the policy meeting, held May 31.

The breathalyzer test rules would be an amendment to the school board’s existing student searches policy. The policy outlines several existing search methods, such as searching students’ backpacks or performing pat-downs.

Board Member Monika Johnson-Hostler questioned the potential for breathalyzer tests to single out students abusing just one substance, while many other students may abuse other substances schools wouldn’t be testing for.

“To what end?” Johnson-Hostler said. “What are we doing this for? What’s going to come of it? Are we reporting it to parents? Is there going to be some type of treatment?”

Students who abuse pills are just as intoxicated, Johnson-Hostler said.

She also cautioned that parents who don’t like the breathalyzer tests or search policies are upset because of the school culture and climate created by that surveillance.

“The calls we get are not about whether it’s a policy or not,” Johnson-Hostler said.

Johnson-Hostler and Board Member Christine Kushner said they hoped the district could one day hire more support staff to help students who have substance abuse issues.