Drug testing students is becoming more commonplace at school districts in Butler County as a way to ensure a drug-free environment in schools and help students before they develop substance-abuse issues.

Butler School District could become the fourth school district in the county to have a random drug testing policy if the board approves it at Monday's school board meeting.

Butler would join Seneca Valley, Mars and South Butler school districts in randomly drug testing students who participate in athletics and extracurricular activities or drive to school.

Brian White, Butler superintendent, said the random drug testing program adds another component to the district's efforts to holistically address student behavior.

“We know that addiction is a progressive thing,” White said. “So if you help catch it earlier, you help deter long term issues.”

The program also would prepare students for the work force as many jobs require pre-employment drug screenings, he said.

The policy would require secondary students to pass a drug test before participating in athletics or extracurricular activities or before getting a parking permit on campus. Participating students also would be entered into a random drug testing pool that calls out students to be tested throughout the school year.

White said the district based its proposed policy on Seneca Valley's long-standing policy 227.1 “Drug and Alcohol Awareness for Athletic Programs, Extracurricular Activities and Student Drivers.”

Seneca Valley has been a model for many schools looking to enact a random drug testing program. It was the first in the county and one of the first in the state to enact such a program 16 years ago.

When the program was implemented in 2002, Seneca Valley parents voiced concerns about student privacy issues and the costs and logistics of the testing, but many were also in favor of it.

Now that testing has become more common and accepted, White said most of the feedback he has gotten about Butler's proposed policy has been supportive.

South Butler is the most recent school to enact a random drug testing program during the 2017-18 school year.

Kurt Reiser, athletics and activities directors for the district, said South Butler began the program after concern about drug and opioid abuse in the region and state. It's meant to help students, not punish them, he said.

“We wanted to be sure that we were ahead of the curve with those things,” Reiser said. “The program is meant to identify if there is a problem with a particular student so we can provide help and counseling.”

South Butler uses Sport Safe Testing Service to administer its program, the same company Seneca Valley uses. The company sets up initial screening tests in August at the high school.

Parents pay $30 for the initial preactivity test, and the school district pays for the random testing done throughout the school year. The procedure is the same at Seneca Valley.

Butler students already pay a fee to participate in athletics, so the school district would foot the bill for the drug testing program, White said. Mars adopted its random drug testing policy in July 2016 to test students in grades seven through 12 who participate in sports and pays the entire cost for the program.

South Butler completed about 500 preactivity tests last school year, Reiser said.

Sport Safe then comes in a couple times a month and randomly selects 20 to 25 students in the program to test throughout the school year, Reiser said.

“I think the majority of people in the district and community support the program and think it's valuable,” he said.

At first he said there were questions about how the program would work, Reiser said. The district and school board had several meetings with parents to keep them informed and receive feedback.

It is too soon to tell if it has been effective, he said, but the testing program is making the students think about their actions.

“I think the kids are talking about it,” Reiser said. “They know about it. It's on their radar. I think it is acting as a deterrent to kids getting involved in drugs. I think it'll be successful.”

In the Seneca Valley program, when a student tests positive, the first call made is to the parents. The building principal meets with them and the student is required to submit follow-up samples each week for five weeks.

The student is also suspended for 14 days from the sport, activity or parking privilege and must attend a four-day mandatory drug and alcohol education class.

Students are not penalized academically for a positive test, and positive results are not voluntarily disclosed to criminal or juvenile authorities.

Using a three strike system, if a student tests positive a second time, they are suspended for a year from the activity or parking permit. A third strike results in permanent suspension.

During the annual drug testing report at the June school board meeting, Matt McKinley, Seneca Valley's assistant superintendent of secondary education, said the district's positive test rate was 0.41 percent in the 2017-18 school year.

That rate was down from the previous school year and lower than the national average positive rate of 2 percent.

Seneca Valley completed 2,485 preactivity tests last school year for students in grades seven through 12 and 1,768 random tests throughout the year.

“There are consequences associated with the policy, but the purpose of the program has never been punitive,” McKinley said. “The program has given and continues to give families the gift of early detection.”