School District Still Exploring Drug Testing

School district officials are still looking at implementing random drug testing for employees and volunteers.

Though the district had been exploring drug testing before, the recent arrests of three district employees threw a spotlight on those efforts.

In a letter written by Superintendent Dr. Kelly Pew following the arrests, the superintendent said the district was exploring options, including random drug screenings.

Changes to district policies had been sent to counsel before the arrests, according to Board Chairman Alex Saitta.

Those policy changes included drug testing for all employees.

“It was suggested by the administration to expand the drug testing provisions to all employees,” Saitta said. “The (policy) committee thought that was a good idea. Right now we test bus drivers only.”

On Monday night, district officials gave an update on those efforts, following advice from the law firm of Duff, White and Turner.

“We do have to be careful of Fourth Amendment rights with search and seizure,” Pew said. “To just say that we’re going to randomly test all employees is not something that is permissible. She has sent us some language of when it would be appropriate to do a random drug test.

“That could be with people who are coaches, people who have CDLs who might drive an athletic bus, but also when we have suspicion,” Pew continued. “She’s going to have some added points for us to consider before our next policy committee meeting. But it would not be random for every employee.” 

Board members had asked district officials to give a presentation on how they screen new employees and volunteers.

Dr. Stepanie Lackey, district executive director of human resources, presented the information.

For certified teachers, anyone who holds a state teaching credential, the district creates an online posting on the School Recruiter site, conducts a paper screening to make sure applicants meet minimum requirements for the position, Lackey said.  

A district-level screening is then conducted, she said.

For classified staff, a posting is created on School Recruiter, then release the applicants’ names to the supervisor doing the hiring, who then conducts the paper and district-level screenings.

Applicants are then moved to an interview team at the building where they will be working, Lackey said. That team screens applicants and conducts interviews. Principals have final input, she said.

“Principals do check references so there’s a shared responsibility between both parties at the district office and the building,” Lackey said. “Then they make a recommendation through School Recruiter to begin the paperwork for hiring.”  

Classified staff go through the same process

Applicants are then released back to the HR office, Lackey said.

“We print an application and their transcripts, Work Keys, whatever they have to have within their personnel file,” she said. “We then begin checking the State Department for certification and contract level, years of experience, just to verify what’s already on their applications.

“We run SLED checks and/or Chapman background searches. Those are both criminal background checks,” Lackey continued. “Chapman is used for individuals that are outside of the state of South Carolina. We can check 48 states – there are a couple that are left out, those states chose to go a different route, other than Chapman.”

Applicants are also run through the National Sex Offender Registry.

“Then we create their personnel file and invite them to new employee orientation, pending board approval,” Lackey said.    

She said volunteers complete a volunteer application at a volunteer training.

Volunteers are given the same information as district employees.

“Depending on what level of chaperoning or volunteering they want to complete at our school levels at the, we do run background checks and National Sex Offender Registries on all of our volunteers, at their expense,” Lackey said.  

Pew said fingerprint checks are also done on new hires.

Lackey agreed.

“That is part of state certification,” she said.

During the new hire orientation, new employees are presented with a wealth of information, including the district’s policies and procedures on bullying and intimidation, texting, sexual harassment and how to handle relationships with students.  

Saitta said the recent arrests were the fault of neither district administration nor the school board.

“My personal opinion is, I think society’s in decline,” Saitta said. “It has been for about 50 years now, and it’s probably gaining steam. That’s the source of all of this. When you look at TV and movies, they reflect the culture. When you compare them today versus 40, 50 years ago, you can see the difference for yourselves. There’s more violence, more sex, more drugs. When you do something wrong, you become famous like Kim Kardashian – they glorify it.

“As a public system that serves everyone in society, we cannot turn away anyone,” Saitta continued. “So all these ills are just flowing into our schools. We can’t control that trend, so we’re going to see it more and more in our students and our parents and sometimes even in our employees. We can’t control this decline, but we can do a better job of managing it.”

Trustee Jimmy Gillespie said he’d examined other districts’ policy, citing policies in Tennessee.

“Knox County does screenings when there’s a promotion,” Gillespie said. “They screen people who are considered to be a safety risk to students, people who are in charge of students and that kind of thing. I think it would be a really good idea to look at their policy. It has withstood federal scrutiny.”