I received an email this from the alma mater this morning saying that Eds, Ignatius and Gilmour Academy are going to start a drug testing program together. Gilmour, is Holy Cross like St. Eds, so that's probably why they are included. They are going to test by hair. Drugs can be found in hair longer than urine. Supposedly it's not going to be punitive but is solely meant to identify kids who need help. It's a very bold decision. I can say that while at St. Eds I knew a couple very bright kids who got way too into drugs and either ended up leaving the school or otherwise suffered.

From a recruiting standpoint this does offer an extra bit of vetting. When Ohio St recruits kids from Eds and Ignatius they know that they aren't going to struggle with the academics but this helps ensure that they also aren't coming in with an untreated drug problem. I'm assuming the drug testing will also include steroids.

I think this is potentially a really good thing but it depends on the implementation. I couldn't find a press release on the website but here's the email I received:

Dear St. Edward Alumni,

As a member of our Alumni family, I am writing to inform you of a very important initiative we announced today at St. Edward High School. We have formed a partnership with our friends at Gilmour Academy and Saint Ignatius High School on a wellness initiative that will focus on keeping our students drug-free through a combination of education, testing and support.

Like all teenagers, our students face pressure to experiment with illegal substances. They see a growing tolerance of a drug culture in mass media, in society in general, and even in our legislatures. In fact, drug abuse is probably the largest single threat to high school student achievement facing our country today. For example, we have all seen numerous news reports over the past several months on the nationwide heroin epidemic. While we have no evidence that the use of illegal substances at St. Edward is higher or lower than at other schools, we want to do everything we can to keep our students well and safe.

We already have educational, counseling and intervention programs in place to deal with these realities but, given the pressures our students face, we believe now is the time to take an even more aggressive stance against this threat. Accordingly, beginning next fall, we will conduct drug testing of our students using a non-invasive hair sampling procedure. Our Board of Trustees approved this program after extensive research and, along with our friends at Gilmour and Saint Ignatius, we have retained the services of Psychemedics Corporation of Massachusetts to test hair samples of our entire student body in the fall, followed by random tests throughout the 2014-2015 school year.

This initiative is simply one more component in our student wellness efforts that encompass the range of threats high school students potentially face such as bullying and physical security, along with a range of issues such as healthy eating choices, the importance of exercise, and our concussion testing program. Ultimately, this is not designed to be a punitive program; it's a proactive prevention and intervention strategy. By identifying students at risk, we can work with their parents and health professionals to get them the help they need and re-direct their path.

Like our other wellness initiatives, this program is all about making good choices - a value we want to instill now to benefit our students throughout their lives. We hope when you reflect on your years at 

St. Edward, you agree the efforts we made to help you make good choices have stayed with you, no matter where life has taken you since your time on our campus.

If you have any questions about this program, you are welcome to visit our website, where we have posted a fact sheet that provides more details about the procedure we will be using and the company we have retained to assist us with this effort. And do not hesitate to call or send me an email if you have any concerns.

As always, thank you for your ongoing support of St. Edward High School.  We wish you many blessings in this Easter season.

Sincerely,

Jim Kubacki
President