YADKIN COUNTY, N.C. -- Drug testing could be coming back to Yadkin County middle and high schools.

  • There is a plan in place to randomly test some students throughout the school year.
  • Currently, only student athletes and students that drive to school would be up for the testing.
  • If a student fails, he or she must take a counseling course with a therapist.

After parent meetings in September, there is a plan in place to randomly test some students throughout the school year.

The county superintendent, Todd Martin, said the recent opioid crisis led to the plan. One thousand two hundred people died in Yadkin County in 2017 from heroin or opioids.

Currently, only student athletes and students that drive to school would be up for the testing.

"With a random drug testing program, you want to make sure that it's legally sound. Extracurriculars, the athletics and so on are voluntary," Martin said.

In an effort to make the testing proactive instead of punitive, all of the testing, results and later counseling would be done through a third party. If a student fails, he or she must take a counseling course with a therapist. The parents also are involved.

"The parents have to participate in the first session and the last session. If they successfully complete it, that first primary group, they don't even have to do anything with the school system. We don't even need to know about it," Kristi Gaddis, executive director of Student Services for Yadkin County Schools, said. 

The school would only be notified if the student didn't complete the course.

The current plan is to apply for grants to fund the screening. Martin said no tax money will be used.

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