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Mandatory random drug testing for student athletes should begin next week, Superintendent Glenn Gelbrich said at the Tuesday evening Juneau School Board meeting.
Drug testing to begin next week 102109 LOCAL 2 JUNEAU EMPIRE Mandatory random drug testing for student athletes should begin next week, Superintendent Glenn Gelbrich said at the Tuesday evening Juneau School Board meeting.
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Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Story last updated at 10/21/2009 - 10:39 am

Drug testing to begin next week
By Mary Catharine Martin | JUNEAU EMPIRE

Mandatory random drug testing for student athletes should begin next week, Superintendent Glenn Gelbrich said at the Tuesday evening Juneau School Board meeting.

Coaches have met for orientation on testing and the district will soon have parent information nights. The district also will most likely hire a short-term, temporary coordinator for the testing as early as Nov. 9, he said.

Gelbrich said if voluntary random testing is in place by January, he will consider it "a home run."

"As evidenced by our first presentation, we really need to turn our attention to achievement," he said.

The first presentation the school board heard was the student achievement report for the 2008-09 academic year, which evaluates reading, writing, math and science performance and progress for grades 3 through 12 and graduation and dropout rates from year to year. Some highlights are that the graduation rate and overall language arts performance improved; overall math performance is at a five-year low.

The report is available at www.juneauschools.org.

At the meeting, the board also:

• Re-elected board members Mark Choate as president, Andi Story as vice president and Destiny Sargeant as recorder for one-year terms

• Discussed changes to the Juneau Community Charter School's contract. The district will be charging the school hourly rates for nursing services, special education services, elementary art coaches and English language learner services, for an estimated total of $11,700 for this school year.

Assistant Superintendent Laury Scandling said the fees would help the district recover about ten percent of its expenditures on the school and that the school had approved the contract changes.

Juneau Community Charter School is receiving about $166,000 more in funding than previous years due to an increase in state funding.

• Discussed the 2009 school climate and connectedness survey results. Surveyed students gave their schools better approval ratings in all categories than in previous years. School staff said all tested areas improved except that of student involvement.