Deer Creek board amends policies on test exemptions and activity drug testing to remove technical specifics

The Deer Creek Board of Education voted 5-0 to approve updates to two policies that remove overly specific language and align policy text with current district practices.

Miss Vandoren presented proposed changes to policy IKAB (test exemption), saying the district wants to avoid listing specific concurrent-course titles in board policy because course offerings through partner institutions can change year to year. “We feel like the first sentence in that statement that just says that they will have some classes that could count towards the final, and then to go on to just say that we will publicize annually what those classes are, is sufficient without listing those,” Vandoren said.

Vandoren also proposed edits to JFCH (activity student drug testing) to remove a line that named a specific laboratory testing method. She said the district’s contractor, Compliance Resource Group (CRG), currently uses gas chromatography and mass spectrometry for confirmatory testing, but policies should require confirmation by “a second and different test of the same specimen” without naming an exact laboratory method.

Board members asked several clarifying questions during the discussion. A board member asked whether confirmatory testing is performed on the same initial specimen; Vandoren confirmed it is. A board member asked how long drug-testing records are kept; Vandoren said these records are kept by school administrators separate from academic records and are not reported to external entities post-graduation.

Vandoren reported testing volumes and results in the current year as context: “for the first part of this year, we've had over a 100 student tests at the middle school and high school and only 1 positive result,” she said.

The board approved both policy changes by unanimous vote. The vote recorded for each motion was 5–0.