FPS Board Member Responds

In a three to one decision, the Fairbury Public School Board of Education voted to eliminate the Extracurricular Drug Testing Program at a meeting Monday evening, August 8, 2022. Dr. Jonathan Winter was the sole “No” vote. Dr. Winter is currently running for re-election to the school board and FJN reached out to him for a statement following the vote: The drug-testing policy was originally adopted with the best of intentions in helping our students. Over time, it became apparent that the policy could be improved to offer more support and resources to students (in extracurricular activities) that tested positive for illegal substances. Board members met during a special work session to discuss ways to improve our responsiveness as a district, with a goal of being more restorative than punitive. FPS will have additional resources available to students this upcoming school year, including counseling services from the ESU and a school resource officer. The proposed changes to the drug-testing policy aimed at incorporating these supports to aid in student rehabilitation.Going into the recent board meeting, I was hopeful that the drug-testing policy would stand so that we could update the proposed changes to improve the policy. I recognize that other board members had valid concerns, and few policies are met without any contention. Ultimately, I believed the benefit to students outweighed any concerns that I had. I appreciated the time and consideration that went into the proposed changes to be more beneficial to students and families. It’s difficult to put a number on the potential number of students that benefited from the rescinded policy, whether serving as an excuse for minors to turn-down offers from peers, providing notification to families of student usage to serve as a point of intervention, or additional conferencing from administrators and coaches. It can be difficult to quantify the benefit of interventions. But, if the policy helped even a few students, I saw the value to continue the testing, especially with the additional improvements.Despite the recent vote to rescind the drug-testing policy, I know that our administrators, coaches, sponsors, counselors, teachers and staff will continue to do what they can to support students through substance-abuse issues.

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