High school to do breathalyzers on teens...

[cynatnite]

At Santa Barbara High School, officials will screen every third or fourth student who arrives and anyone who appears drunk, said Principal Paul Turnbull. Dos Pueblos High School administrators will use the Breathalyzer only if they suspect a problem, said Principal Quentin Panek.

"There's a lot of heavy drinking going on," said Penny Jenkins, executive director of the local nonprofit Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse. "Something's got to be done."

Jenkins said she has seen preliminary results of a RAND Corp. study showing that a higher percentage of Santa Barbara students drink alcohol that the state average. The study is scheduled to be released in a couple of weeks.

Santa Barbara High students offered mixed reactions to the testing.

"I think it's a good idea if they check randomly, but I think they'll probably target some students" including those who show up in limousines, said sophomore Kelsea Peace.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051007/ap_on_re_us/students_breathalyzed

[Caoimhe]

1. "those who show up in limousines"

gosh, I feel real HORRIBLE for THEM being targeted. </sarcasm>

[PassingFair]

2. I can't believe this is America!

Whatever happened to presumption of innocence?
Whatever happened to illegal search and seizure?
Whatever happened to probable cause?

Whatever happened to America?

[barbaraann]

3. Barry Goldwater and Clifton White

http://www.ashbrook.org/publicat/books/3505.html

[Trillo]

9. Those items have been missing from childrens' lives for a long time.

I think it goes along with Intelligent Design, get the kids ready for ultimate authority. It's part of the preparation process for the anti-american society in creation. But they'll still be taught about their constitutional rights and protections in government class.

Keeping children confused is part of the prepartion.

Gonna smack those kids down good with a breathalyzer for homecoming. Maybe bite them with a drug dog, too.

[PassingFair]

14. I was horrified when it was determined that their lockers...

could be searched.And THAT was a long time ago.

I don't mind metal detectors at high school entrances, but when my KINDERGARTNER told me that the DARE officer had looked through their cubbies, I blew my stack.

Said kindergartner then told me she made that part up...
She REALLY knows how to push my buttons!

[Trillo]

16. When I was in school, I felt drunk all the time,

but I didn't know it because I didn't know what being drunk from alcohol felt like. I tracked it down as an adult to a milk allergy, the protien allergy, not the carbohydrate one. As a youngster and teenager I drank the poison multiple times throughout the day. They even gave it to me at school!

[slaveplanet]

17. Breathalizers Pfft...this is worse

School washrooms no place for surveillance cameras

Richmond School Board's decision last week to OK the use of video surveillance cameras anywhere in its schools, including washrooms, encountered disturbingly little opposition from local students and parents.

But school administrators have not produced any information or evidence -- in the way of criminal activity among the district's 23,000 students -- to warrant such invasive spying tactics.

Of the majority, only a few teens think it's cool to participate in graffiti, vandalism and bullying, and experience has shown these offences most often occur in the school yard or off the premises.

And while Richmond officials have every right to adopt measures to arrest misconduct and violence and promote safety, they also have a duty to respect the democratic right of every one of their students to privacy, especially in spaces used for intimacy.

When will people realise that you don't need to be chained together or working the fields to be a slave.....

[gkhouston]

4. will they be screening the teachers and staff as well?

'Cause I remember one assistant principal who sure acted sloshed...

[dogday]

5. Excellent question

If it is good for the goose, it is good for the gander....

[libnnc]

15. exactly, my 9th grade physical science teacher

back in '85 was so hungover/bombed one day he came out of his office, eyes swollen and red, hair all messed up, looking like had just come off a really bad bender, and stood infront of the class and told us point blank that he wasn't able to teach class, that he was an alcoholic, had been drinking non-stop for days and he needed to get help. It was really sad. We didn't know what to do. Needless to say he was gone for a few weeks after that.

Students aren't the only ones who hit the bottle.

[fooj]

6. They did that at the high school I taught at in California.

The kids were telling me that they'd have to stand in line when they arrived at the prom and do the breathalizer test. That really bothered me. Nothing like the "Culture of Trust", right?

peace.

[dogday]

8. and there's the rub

You won't be able to establish any trust with these kids, using these means.

[cynatnite]

10. When I was in high school no one did their partying until after...

the dance. Well, mostly everyone waited until it was over.

It would piss me off if they did it to my kid. I trust my teenager. Tonight is homecoming and she's doing the game and the dance.

To me, this is like making assumption the kids are going to break the law anyway.

[fooj]

13. Yep. I'm in full agreement.

Peace.

[noonwitch]

7. I'm not big on mandatory drug tests of students and all that, but ...

When I was in high school in the late 70s, early 80s, lots of kids were drunk at school. I had a friend who had a serious problem (Pied Piper probably remembers him) and one day he got a couple of other kids drunk with him. Unfortunately, it was the day we were painting ukranian-style easter eggs, which involved melting hot wax and other flame-related activities. Although no one got hurt (I wasn't drunk, so I could put out a candle wrapped in paper and set afire), it could have been a very bad situation. I don't think random urine tests for high schoolers are a great idea, but a breathalyzer for a kid who appears intoxicated is not such a bad idea. Expecially if the school is planning to work with the kid's parents to help him stop drinking.

[meganmonkey]

11. When I was in high school we just smoked pot since it was easier to get

We had the hardest time getting alcohol.

These kids today...

[SpiralHawk]

12. Before they are done, BushCo Repubs will be checking undies for fudgies

Don't say you weren't warned.