FPS Rescinds Drug Testing Policy
By Gordon Hopkins
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. Two other members of the board, Jacie Milius and Sharon Ebke, were not in attendance at the meeting.
Drug testing has been a controversial subject for the school since 2019, when the school board voted unanimously to add nicotine to the school’s drug testing protocols and policy.
FPS gained brief national attention when it became one of the first schools in the country to do so.
The board has previously held what school superintendent Stephen Grizzle described as a ‘work session’ to revisit Policy 501, the drug testing policy, on Friday, July 29.
On the school board agenda were options to change elements or the program and to eliminate nicotine from the array. Instead, the board opted to eliminate the policy in its entirety.
FPS Superintendent Stephen Grizzle pointed out that the school still has a drug policy.
This decision eliminates random drug testing of students participating in extracurricular activities only, “At the beginning, I set out two main drug testing policy goals. One was to illustrate that we do not have a huge drug problem in the school. Goal number two was hopefully to give students an opportunity or a reason to say no.”
Grizzle did express concerns about eliminating drug testing, “I think, when we implement a policy, we’re doing it in a good faith effort to be proactive. And we feel like there’s a number of parents who don’t realize their kids do drugs, or vaping.”
Winter, the lone vote against rescinding the policy, describe the decision as, “Burying your head in the sand.”
Fairbury Mayor Spencer Brown expressed his disappointment at the decision on Facebook, “What a sad day…Fairbury Public School, board members (Angie) Judd, (Jodi) Starr and Schwab voted successfully to recind (sic) the schools drug testing policy. I applaud the efforts of Board member Winter and the administration that stood up against drug use.”
A full story on the issue will be in Friday’s FJN.
