Drug testing popular with parents Most parents sign up their kids. Program targets Hackettstown's seventh- and eighth-graders. Wednesday, October 11, 2006 • BY LYNN OLANOFF • The Express-Times HACKETTSTOWN | More than half of the town's seventh- and eighth-grade public school students will be subject to random drug tests later this month. For the middle school's inaugural year of random drug testing, 111 out of 203 seventh- and eighth-grade students have signed up for the voluntary program, said Jennifer Spuckes, the school's student assistance counselor. Students and their parents both had to sign enrollment forms, which were submitted last month. School officials are pleased with 55 percent enrollment. "For a voluntary program in its first year, that's a pretty nice commitment," Spuckes said. Comparatively, Pequannock Valley Middle School, the only other New Jersey middle school with random drug testing, had 37 percent of its students enrolled in the program its first year. In all, only about 30 middle schools nationwide have random drug testing programs. Hackettstown Middle School parents have been generally supportive of the testing, said Ingrid Kelly, the school's Parent Teacher Association president. Criticism of the program has been minimal because most questions were answered during three information sessions the school held, she said. "I think a lot of parents are comfortable with it because it's voluntary," Kelly said. Her son, a sixth-grader, will be enrolled in the program next year, she said. School officials decided there wasn't a need to include the school's fifth- and sixth-grade students. The testing will start later this month, Spuckes said. About 20 percent of the testing pool -- picked randomly -- will be tested this year. Students will be tested for alcohol, cocaine, methamphetamine, amphetamine, opiates, barbiturates, marijuana, morphine and benzodiazepine. School officials also are working on a way to test the students for cotinine, a tobacco byproduct, Spuckes said. Hackettstown Middle School does not have a drug problem, according to school officials. Rather, the school is testing students to give them another reason to not use drugs. School officials recently completed a student drug use survey, which will be presented at the district's Oct. 18 school board meeting. A survey showing the effect of Hackettstown High School's random drug testing program also will be presented at that meeting. That program has been ongoing for two years and requires all students involved in extracurricular activities or who park their car on campus to be tested. Reporter Lynn Olanoff can be reached at 908-475-8044 or by e-mail at lolanoff@express-times.com. © 2006 The Express-Times. Used by NJ.com with permission.