West Virginia

Drugs are the second biggest reason why teachers are fired. Random testing is being proposed, however, teachers unions are actively working to prevent reform in public schools.

Feb 15, 2007 - West Virginia teachers union representatives are opposed to drug screening proposed by one county that would subject current employees and new hires to random testing.

The unions are opposed, they say, because it doesn't include all administrators, including board members and upper-level administrators.

According to the proposed guidelines, safety sensitive positions include principals, assistant principals, guidance counselors, teachers, mechanics, carpenters, cooks, custodians, electricians, locksmiths and machinists, among others. The board began looking at such a policy after a Pratt Elementary School Principal was arrested and charged with cocaine possession. UPDATE Feb 20: The principal was found NOT GUILTY and reinstated to his job.

TT- we were floored when a teacher in Hawaii was arrested for drug dealing and distribution when a teacher union representative stated that he shouldn't be fired because he was a good teacher. This is how unions prevent reform.

Our records show 41 teachers or administrators arrested for drugs, either possession or distribution. That's an average of 10 a month. In Lewiston, NY, a teacher advised students when drug raids were planned. An Oregon teacher traded a fifth of whiskey for a student's ritalin. A Muskogee, Oklahoma teacher who looks like someone's mother stole student prescriptions. In South Carolina, a teacher maintained a meth lab in his basement. The police found out when a girlfriend set fire to the house.

Drug dealing teachers in Michigan, Oregon, Texas, Maryland, Alabama (the 3rd teacher arrested on drug charges) and Ohio (second one arrested on drug charges.) In Geneva, Ohio, the teacher's boyfriend was a drug dealer. A South Carolina teacher shared her cocaine with a student. A third-grade special education teacher was arrested for drugs when police when to her home to find her boyfriend who had gunned down two people. They found three handguns in her home and a pot growing industry.

Nashville, Tennesee - a substitute teacher was arrested for possession of drugs and a firearm. He has a history of similar arrests. A Washington, DC. teacher was an active member of a drug trafficking operation. Another teacher in Fernley, Nevada, sold drugs along with her husband.

A Galveston teacher was arrested in her schoolroom, charged with holding drug proceeds for others and intent to sell. Also arrested at school was a Missouri teacher who smelled of marijuana because she smoked pot in the school parking lot. Two teachers in Hawaii still claim it wasn't pot they smoked before school. A Valencia, New Mexico teacher was arrested at school when they found several bags of meth in her purse. In Wisconsin, a teacher stole credit card information from other teachers to help her buy prescription painkillers over the internet.

In one school, drug dogs were employed to search lockers. The only drugs found were in a substitute teacher's truck.

Drugs are a problem in society in general. But they are even worse in the classroom, not only for the message they send but for the safety of students. Schools talk about zero tolerance for students, but teachers are routinely placed on administrative leave after their arrest, usually with pay as the teachers unions make this part of their contract. No instant retribution. No zero tolerance. Just bureaucratic inertia.

It is our position that teachers, like policemen, should be randomly tested for drugs. Police, too, are subject to random lie detector tests. Considering the number of teacher-student sex cases, that wouldn't be bad either.