LOXLEY, Ala. – The Orange Beach mayor and council want random drug testing to return to Baldwin County schools. And they are willing to help pay of it.

Mayor Tony Kennon and the full Orange Beach City Council appeared Tuesday afternoon at a work session of the county school board.

“The most disappointing statement I hear is people saying, ‘There are drugs in every school,’” Kennon said. “If we work hard to eliminate drugs in our schools, and other communities work hard to eliminate drugs in their schools, we can make a dent.”

Kennon cited studies that show drug use promotes absenteeism and discipline problems. He also noted that it is legal to do random drug tests at school.

“Kids do dumb things,” said Kennon. “As parents and adults, it is up to us to come up with a way to help.”

Looking way back

For Orange Beach officials, the best route is to drug test using hair samples, which can look further into the past. The human body cleanses itself on a regular basis. Urine tests can only detect the presence of drugs about two weeks before the sample was taken. But as hair grows, it offers an ongoing record. Because of that, hair tests can determine the presence of drugs up to three months in the past.

 “The No. 1 reason to do this is it gives kids the ability to say No and still be cool,” Kennon said. “Peer pressure can be great. This will allow a kid to say, ‘No, I can’t (do drugs) because there is a drug test next week and I can’t risk losing my spot on the math team.’”

By using the hair samples, the effects of testing would also extend through the summer. Anyone wanting to play a fall sport, such as football, would have to make sure they stayed clean all summer. A positive result on a drug test could exclude students from playing sports or participating in any extracurricular activity.

School district attorney Scotty Lewis said that while the Alabama courts have not dealt with a case involving hair tests, he feels it will pass legal muster.

“Since hair testing is less invasive that urine or blood tests, I feel it will pass the scrutiny easier,” said Lewis.

Baldwin County Schools had a random drug testing policy in the mid-2000s. It used urine samples. Anyone who drove to school or participated in extracurricular activities was in the pool of candidates who could be randomly sampled.

“It had a definite impact,” school board president Norm Moore said. “We saw a steady decrease in the number of drug tests coming back with positive results.”

The worldwide economic crisis of 2008 effectively ended the drug testing of students.

“We were reducing staff and the drug testing became an administrative nightmare,” said Moore. “It came to the point of putting teachers out on the street or quit drug testing.”

Kennon wants to sit down with school officials and set up a plan to see what would be allowed under school board policy. The city would then see how much money they have to contribute to determine how many tests could be given.

One benefit is the cost of hair testing has dramatically dropped since 2006 when the last testing began. At that time, urine tests were about $25 while hair tests were $130 each, Moore said. The urine test remains about the same cost, but the hair tests only cost about $36 now.

The plan only calls for testing of students. It could be expanded to include teachers, administrators and staff. Orange Beach hopes to begin testing its employees with the hair sample method.