Opposition mounts to drug-test policy

Ashley Mozer hopes the Brick Township Board of Education doesn’t make her choose between her principles and her car.

In December, the board unanimously adopted a revised drug-testing policy that allows for the random testing of students who possess campus parking permits. The revised policy, which took effect immediately after its adoption, requires students either to sign a contract subjecting them to testing or forfeit their permits.

But Mozer, an 18-year-old Brick Township High School (BTHS) senior, did not sign the contract by the Jan. 9 deadline and is hoping that the board reconsiders the policy.

"I do not abuse drugs or alcohol and feel it is an infringement of my rights as a citizen of this country," Mozer said.

In addition to being a violation of her privacy, Mozer believes the fact that the new policy took effect in the middle of the school year is unfair.

"They should have grandfathered it," Mozer said. "We were given a privilege and by no means should it be taken away."

Losing her campus parking permit would pose logistical problems for Mozer, who relies on her car for transportation to one of her two part-time jobs after her dismissal at 11:40 a.m.

"The vice principal has told me that they are not forcing me to sign this paper, but what he does not understand is that they are really not giving me a choice," she said.

But according to BTHS Principal Dennis Filippone, Mozer and other students who refuse to sign the consent form will eventually lose the privilege anyway.

"We welcome students questioning rules in our democratic society," Filippone said. "But the bottom line is, it’s a board policy."

Fellow student Charley Brucato, 18, is trying to amass 500 signatures on a petition he started to get the board to reverse its policy on the grounds that drug testing was not a part of the original contract students signed at the beginning of the year. He hopes to present the petition to the board at tonight’s meeting. Unlike Mozer, Brucato, who is vice president of the BTHS senior class, said he ended up signing the contract, despite his opposition.

"My vice principal brought me into his office and spoke to me for 30 minutes to try to get me to sign it," Brucato said.

Brucato, who often stays after school for play practice, said losing his parking privilege would be a major inconvenience.

"With the school budget cuts, they eliminated the 4:30 p.m. bus," Brucato said. "That means I’d have to wait around after practice until 5:30 p.m., which I don’t want to do."

Jackie Swan, 18, president of the National Honor Society and a two-sport student athlete, also disagrees with the new drug-testing policy. Although she signed the consent form, Swan said she disagrees with it because it doesn’t indicate what the punishment would be if she refused to sign it.

"There shouldn’t be gray areas on a contract," she said.

Swan said she was randomly selected last year to be drug tested, and the experience itself was embarrassing and degrading. Swan described being escorted to the school nurse’s office by her vice principal, where a cotton swab was put in her mouth to test for the presence of alcohol. Swan said when she was selected for the test, she didn’t feel the need to urinate and was made to sit in the nurse’s office drinking "gallons of water" until she was ready. After the test was completed, she said school officials didn’t allow her to flush the toilet or wash her hands.

"Everybody knows where you went and what you did," Swan said.

"Is it an invasion of their privacy?" asked board President Dr. William P. Boyan. "Yes, but it is a worthwhile invasion."

Boyan said he looks forward to hearing the students plead their case at tonight’s board meeting, and it surprised him that it took them so long to speak up against the policy.

All three students said that although they were aware the policy was going to be adopted, they didn’t think it would be put into effect this year.

Board member Brian DeLuca, who sits on the policy committee, said the students have "viable concerns" regarding when the new policy is enforced.

"I would revisit it," DeLuca said. "I’m willing to listen and discuss it in executive session with my fellow board members."

"I am not a bad person," Mozer said. "All I ask is that I may drive to school to get an education without having to be subjected to embarrassment, degradation and a whole bunch of headaches."