Punishment for drugs or alcohol can range from a 10-day suspension to expulsion at Hempfield, which has dealt with several students on drug issues this school term. They have had several drug-related incidents in this school year. Anyone found with drugs or selling drugs at Solanco gets a mandatory 10-day suspension from school, said officials. Those students are put into a mandatory drug-testing program and the district frequently and randomly calls for students in that group to be tested for drugs. The district has another completely different program where some 400 students are enrolled in a voluntary drug-testing program.
Parents can enroll students as young as sixth grade in the program.
Several times a year, students are randomly selected for testing. The Supreme Court has ruled that mandatory random testing of the general student body is illegal. If a student tests positive for drugs out of the voluntary group, their parents are notified and they are referred to SAP counseling. However this year a student who tested positive once was randomly pulled again and tested positive again. The school district has decided that a stronger reaction may be needed in this kind of a case.