In the interest of promoting drug free lifestyles and providing students with many opportunities to "just say no", the Republic School District is investigating the implementation of a student drug testing policy. The investigative process has just begun. At this point we want to measure the level of community agreement with such a policy to determine if and how to move forward. Gathering community input regarding this important issue is vital to the process.
Currently, Republic is the only school district in the large Central Ozarks Conference that does not have a policy of this nature in place. The districts who have implemented this practice have seen success and highly recommend this best practice. A policy of this nature would randomly impact secondary students involved in extracurricular activities and possibly those who have additional privileges on campus. However, we want to hear from you on the criteria that should be utilized if the policy is implemented. We also want to know your thoughts on the frequency of testing, consequences and the type of panel to be used.
In addition to investigating the aforementioned criteria, we are looking into the cost associated. As stated above, we are very interested in hearing from our community on this issue.
Please complete the seven question survey at the below link by Tuesday, February 21. Based on survey responses, if there is an interest in implementing this practice a community information night will be hosted later this spring where parents can attend to learn more.
Our goal is to provide safe learning environments for students, and we feel a policy of this nature will assist in reaching this goal.
Currently, Republic is the only school district in the large Central Ozarks Conference that does not have a policy of this nature in place. The districts who have implemented this practice have seen success and highly recommend this best practice. A policy of this nature would randomly impact secondary students involved in extracurricular activities and possibly those who have additional privileges on campus. However, we want to hear from you on the criteria that should be utilized if the policy is implemented. We also want to know your thoughts on the frequency of testing, consequences and the type of panel to be used.