The future

Board of Trustees Vice President Tracy Scott Miller sparked the discussion of drug testing on campus when he shared his goal of implementing the tests over the announcements in late October.

“People are crying out for help and we want to be there to help them, not to catch them and put him in jail,” Miller said. “That’s not our objective here.”

Students and teachers reacted to his announcement with various opinions. Sign language teacher Amy England supports his initiative.

“I’ll be honest, I think it’s good because you’re young adults,” England said. “I’d rather something get caught when you’re young and you stop a problem that could forever change your life, even if it means you get in trouble when you’re young.”

Sophomore and football player Gunner Scheer, however, doesn’t think random drug testing is a good option. He said that while he could understand testing athletes on a set schedule about three times a year, he doesn’t support regularly testing students without solid proof of drug use, such as finding drugs in a student’s car or bag.

“You would have to have some kind of reason, [like] someone said they had taken drugs,” Scheer said. “Because randomly it’d get so annoying being taken out of class or out of practice just to do a drug test.”

Senior Richard Condra can see both sides of the argument.

“I think it won’t necessarily affect me, because if I end up getting tested, it will come back negative,” Condra said. “But I think it’s justified that some people believe it may be infringing on their rights. Then again, this is a school, and some of our rights are being given up to be here.”

Condra agrees that drugs are a present issue on campus.

“I don’t personally know anyone that does drugs, but I know that a lot of people do drugs here at Marcus,” Condra said. “Drugs are a problem anywhere because they put people in bad situations that they don’t want to be in.”

However, Miller’s plan is still in its early stages and it is unclear if it will be discussed by the board or ultimately gain enough support to be implemented in schools.

“I doubt that the administration is going to just amend administrative policies to include random drug testing,” Miller said. “I think that would take some discussion and in fairness, the board should have a discussion because we represent the community, and we should seek alternative opinions about it.”

Miller said that if drug testing is implemented in the future, he would want to test for drugs of varying levels of severity. He believes that drugs that are often considered to be less damaging, such as marijuana, can be gateways to addiction.

“If we were to do anything, it would cover all those things that are used outside of legal provisions,” Miller said. “That could be drugs that are prescribed but not used within legal provisions of a prescription, or any street drugs that are illegal under Texas law.”

He believes that drug testing would benefit students by giving them an excuse to say no if offered drugs.

“It’s not meant to be a regulation,” Miller said. “It’s meant initially to be something that just suggests that you offer a child an opportunity to use that as a reason not to use.”

However, Miller also said that he is open to various ideas and is not adamant on having drug testing in schools if it is ultimately not the best option for students. According to Miller, his main goal at the current time is to have a conversation within the district about the best ways to protect students from doing drugs. He said that while he hopes drug dealers will receive a harsher punishment, students who admit to using drugs before being caught through the test will be punished less severely, because he wants to help students, not get them in trouble.

“We should address this from multiple dimensions and we should consider all the options,” Miller said. “What that looks like after we have those conversations, I don’t know. I’m willing to be very objective in how we do it and I think that we have a board that operates from a level of compassion, empathy, and will also look at things very thoroughly and deeply.”

Helping teens fight drug abuse is personal for Miller, as his family was one of millions impacted by drug use. His daughter started smoking cigarettes in high school. One night, she was caught on the auditorium stage with mushrooms. She began using harsher drugs when she started her freshman year of college. His son struggled with prescription drugs and cigarettes as well.

“Our son probably struggled with that a little bit,” Miller said. “Not as much as her, but I will tell you that he lost more friends to it between 2012 and 2015.”

Miller said that after finding out about his daughter’s struggles with drugs, his initial response was denial. However, that denial eventually shifted to shame and sadness that left him wondering if he should have done anything differently.

“At the end of the day, it’s a high level of grief you feel for your kids that went through that,” Miller said. “That they felt like they needed to do it for whatever reason it was. Insecurities or just being cool, just going along with it or real addiction.”

By July 2013, his daughter’s boyfriend, who also struggled with drug abuse, died from using heroin. His death left a large impact on Miller’s family. Miller said that it was difficult to even explain the emotions that came with it, but it eventually inspired him to help prevent other families from facing the same tragedy by running for the district board.

“What motivates me now, quite frankly, is the stories that I hear in the community,” Miller said. “The stories I hear from kids. These are real stories. It’s there. It’s real and while some people want to gloss over it, pretend that it doesn’t exist or it’s not as severe as people think it is, that’s just naïve.”

The future of drug testing and similar ideas in the district is currently unclear, as the topic has not yet been discussed by the board, which will ultimately make the final decision. However, LISD Superintendent Dr. Kevin Rogers, who was the principal in 2008 when the school last drug tested students, has some concerns.

“In general I am not in favor of reimplementing random student drug testing in our school… because of the cost,” Rogers said. “Because of the lack of effectiveness and positive results. Because of those logistical issues.”

However, both Miller and Rogers agreed that they share a common goal of protecting students, but have different opinions about the best way to achieve it. Miller said that even if drug testing is never implemented, he will be happy if his actions spark discussion about drugs and the wellbeing of students.

“I think that when you’ve gone through this and experienced the pain of this, obviously it will compel someone to want to help,” Miller said. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to be a leader in our community that the voters have given me.”