WILMINGTON, MA — At its meeting last week, the Wilmington School Committee okayed a new section to the Wilmington High School Student Handbook allowing for the use of breathalyzers on students at school and school sponsored events.
While WHS Principal Linda Peters presented several proposed changes to the handbook, the addition of the breathalyzers language dominated the discussion among School Committee members.
The new section reads:
Breathalyzers to detect the use of alcohol by individual students may be used at school or at school sponsored events on or off school property. A student will be subject to a breathalyzer test in the event that a member of school personnel believes that a student is under the influence of alcohol at school or at school sponsored events whether on or off school property. Breathalyzers will be administered by school administrators. The results of a breathalyzer test which is administered by a school administrator are for school use only.
Peters noted that the school administration has never utilized breathalyzers in the past, even at dances or proms.
“We’ve had some issues at the dance over the past two years,” Peters admitted. “We’re really hoping to use [breathalyzers] as a preventive measure.”
While noted explicitly stated in the new section, Peters told committee members that if a police officer was present, he or she would supervise the administrator conducting the breathalyzer test.
Peters added that while the new policy calls for a breathalyzer test ONLY if an administrator believes that a student is under the influence, she is open to changing the policy so that breathalyzers could be administered to all students, or to students on a random basis. She’d like to see how the new policy works first, and speak with other districts, before making any changes.
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