Mountain Brook BOE elects officers, hears year-end reports

Brad Sklar and Elizabeth Dunn will be returning to their appointed positions on the Mountain Brook Board of Education during the 2016-2017 school year. At its monthly meeting June 13, the BOE voted to once again have Sklar serve as its Chair and Dunn as its Vice Chair.

The BOE then heard year-end presentations from Karen Svetlay, Mountain Brook High School’s college advisor and Dr. Dale Wisely, director of student services.

Of the 328 2016 MBHS graduates, said Svetlay, who shared matriculation information, 317 of them were headed off to college. Four students were in a transition phase, three were taking a break year, two has no plans, one planned to work and another planned to join the military, she said. As many as 30 percent chose to attend out-of-state colleges, said Svetlay, attending schools in 19 different states. Nearly all — 95 percent — will attend four-year colleges.

“That’s great news,” said Sklar of Svetlay’s report. “Now all those students can go and spread Mountain Brook’s message.”

In his presentation, Wisely updated the BOE on the school district’s drug testing results for the 2015-2016 school year. Of the 352 drug tests administered during the most recent school year — some students were tested more than once — a total of eight were positive. Wisely said that accounted for a total of seven students, one tested positive twice. Five tests returned positive tests for marijuana and three for amphetamines.

MBHS conducts drug testing in three different ways, said Wisely: tests based on reasonable suspicion, activity students who are involved in sports or interscholastic events and students who volunteer to be tested in order to be able to park on campus. The various methods, he said, make up the testing “pool.” From there, students are selected at random several times a year with no prior warning. They are simply removed from class and supervised until they provide a urine sample.

The tests, said Wisely, look for an assortment of drugs, including amphetamines, cocaine, opiates, methadone and marijuana to name a few. They are conducted by a third-party and the school has no control over who gets randomly selected for a test, he said. Should a student test positive, the school will be notified, who will then notify the parents and offer assistance. If the student has parking privileges at the school or is on a school team, those activities may be suspended.

“We are doing more testing now, numerically, than in previous years,” said Wisely, who also noted that twice a year, a team of drug-sniffing dogs canvas the school.

Due to the ever-growing variety of available drugs, Wisely suggested it might be time for the BOE to consider expanding its testing methods.

The next BOE meeting will be July 11 at 3:30 p.m. in the Professional Learning Center. From July 18-20, MBHS will host the Mountain Brook Learning Conference. New teacher orientation week will be from July 25-28 and the new teacher breakfast will be at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, July 26 at the Country Club of Birmingham.