At a special meeting Monday morning, the Juneau School District Board of Education unanimously approved a final required drug-testing policy for high school student athletes.

As per outline rules, regulations, and board discussion, students may be examined for alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, nicotine, opiates, oxycodone, methamphetamine and steroids.

Superintendent Glenn Gelbrich is presently meeting with medical professionals to set proper maximum levels for alcohol and tobacco, which will be set prior to policy execution.

Gelbrich said changes discussed at Monday’s meeting would be worked prior to the drug-testing policy’s intended implementation date of Oct. 19, which is when the winter season starts.

The district’s intervention for drug and alcohol worries involved four unique intervention methods.

The first is a daily contact between a concerned school staff member, coach, parents or guardians. The second is a “suspicion-based” referral in which, depending on evidence of drug use, a school administrator may refer the student to a drug or alcohol counselor or school nurse and could take disciplinary measures.

The other two methods are the compulsory random drug testing for student athletes and voluntary random drug testing.

Students who prefer to participate in voluntary random drug testing will be picked out in the same random way as those in the compulsory program, but the two programs are entirely distinct.

From Juneau Empire:

The school board also added an educational component to the policy, specifying that the superintendent will direct the education of students and parents and the training of staff in the program’s operation and requirements, work with other agencies to improve local support systems for students who are identified through the program, and provide for the periodic assessment of the effectiveness of the program.