 | Not Cool in School: Nelson College in New Drug Test Move |
 Nelson College students will be drug tested when staff notice their school performance is dropping. The Board of Trustees has decided it is legally able to introduce a policy of targeted drug testing.
Any student whose performance drops off will be tested and students who return positive results will undergo counselling and continual testing to confirm a reduction on their drug-taking.
Green MP and former NORML secretary Metiria Turei was outraged at the shock new move and called on the Minister of Education to investigate whether Nelson College’s plan breaches both the Human Rights Act and the Bill of Rights. "Essentially, this drug-test plan will make drug suspects out of every student going through a rough patch."
 17/09/03 College May Introduce Drug Test
 18/09/03 "Mucking around" no excuse for drug-test
19/09/03 Drug Testing Policy Defended
COLLEGE MAY INTRODUCE DRUG TEST
Nelson Mail, 17 Sep 2003
Nelson College students will be drug tested when staff notice their school performance is dropping, if a proposed drug policy is approved.
Headmaster Salvi Gargiulo said a policy had been prepared to allow targeted drug tests to be carried out on students.
"It will go before the board of trustees tomorrow night and they just have to approve it," Mr Gargiulo said.
The board had sought legal advice on drug testing since the idea was raised last month.
"Basically, the policy says that if a student is mucking around, not working as hard as he used to, we can have him tested to see if drugs are the reason.
"The legal opinion I had was that you can't just go up to a student and say `come on, it's your turn'. The tests will be targeted, not random."
The college would have to inform a parent or guardian of the student, but it would not have to gain their consent.
"If they said no, well they could potentially be removed from the school until such time as they were prepared to do the test."
He said he anticipated the college might have to use the test once or twice a term.
"It's not a response to a growing drug problem, it's more a way of setting up a solid way of eliminating that choice for them."
He hoped the possibility of being tested would be enough to put students off dabbling with drugs.
"It's also about putting something in place to support parents. We've been getting a lot of parents who say they'd love to have a device in place. They're all horrified at the thought of their children experimenting with drugs."
The tests would be for all types of drugs, Mr Gargiulo said.
School decides on drug-testing issue
NZCity/IRN, 18 Sep 03
Staff at Nelson College will be taking an even closer interest in students' behaviour from now on.
The Board of Trustees has decided it is legally able to introduce a policy of drug testing.
Any student whose performance drops off will be tested and students who return positive results will undergo counselling and continual testing to confirm a reduction on their drug-taking.
Principal Salvi Gargiulo says parents are fully supportive and several were keen to have their children investigated.
The college hopes the move will be enough of a shock to straighten out any student using cannabis or other drugs.
One of the trustees considering the issue was formerly a judge in the US and carried out extensive research on drug use.
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