A school in Phillipsburg, Kansas was forced to apologise after furious parents condemned the school for leaving their children with bald spots during a random drug test. Parents have reported that their distraught children were left in tears after the invasive test that saw a third-party company remove the pupils hair follicles to undergo testing.
One mother, Jeanette, told the local press that her daughter was left sobbing after the ordeal: “She said mom you’re going to be mad. And she instantly showed me and the tears were there.”
Even as the school has apologised, the school district has claimed that it informed parents that the school would carry out random drug tests for middle-school and high-school students participating in after-class activities. School district 325 added that parents were made to sign consent forms before the testing took place.
While parents acknowledged that they signed the consent forms, they shot back at the school district that they were not informed that the school would shave such large chunks from their children’s heads.
It was also revealed that the school had administered drug tests in the past involving the removal of hair follicles from three different areas on the students’ heads but that these tests had not left a mark on the students’ heads like the latest test.
Meanwhile, school superintendent Mike Gower told local reporters why the third party company the school contracted went with a hair follicle test. He explained:
“They went with a hair follicle test because it goes back 90 days. There’s been a lot of concerns of why don’t you use swabs? Why don’t you use urine? Those test will not go as far back.
“We should have done a better job of informing the public and informing the public we wanted it done in three spots.”
On future drug tests, Gower assured: “We’ll make sure someone is in there, not only the parent, but an employee. We don’t just want the testing person from the company.”