Hello Hopewell Student!

Are you one of the many, many students in Hopewell Valley Central High School that believes the drug testing the school requires EVERY student to endure is un-needed, harmful, impractical, and all in all, wrong. As you all know, if you want to join "athletics, join extra-curricular clubs and activities, apply for a parking permit, or attend school activities such as dances, All Night Volleyball, or other school events during the 2019-20 school year," You must be drug tested for 12 different substances. So now, lets get into the problems:

1) Our life, our choices: Teenagers are never ever going to stop experimenting. They will never stop going to parties, trying new things, experiencing new experiences, and ultimately living their teenage life to their fullest. By forcing students to be drug tested, teenagers who decide to experiment are now being forced to go to substances that are NOT tested on the 12-panel test, or substances that can't be tested at all. The point of the drug testing is to "prevent," but a sad large portion of students now turn to substances that are more addictive, dangerous, and bad then the usual "drugs" a teenager would experiment with. All in all, the drug testing does more harm than prevention, as like I said, teenagers will never stop experimenting, and all the testing does is lead them to experiment with awful, un-testable substances instead of common ones for "healthy" experimentation.

2) Loss of education, family issues: As you all know, when you are picked to be drug tested you sit in the office, waiting to be told to pee in a cup. Sometimes, these pools of students are out of class for extensive periods of time - losing potentially valuable information and education time. Not only that, but if your test comes back positive, you will be forced to lose even MORE educational time by talking to the drug counselor 10 SEPARATE times. But it doesn't stop there. You will be tested more often, again and again, losing more class time every single time. If you fail, you lose all your privileges you receive by agreeing to the drug tests, AND can be seen by colleges on your record. To add, I personally know for a fact MANY Hopewell families are okay with their High School teenagers "safely" experimenting at parties like any other teenager would do. But, when their teen fails a school-issued drug test, the parent's demeanor on their teen completely changes. The drug testing can/have lead to family issues with students due to them living a normal teenage life.

3)School is for education, athletics, and extra-curricular - NOTHING else: Yes, we all understand ANY drug use is not a smart decision and should not happen. But IT IS IMPOSSIBLE to stop teens from experimenting. IMPOSSIBLE. The fact the school is forcing students to go through the unnecessary torment and stress of being drug tested just to join the Robotics club (or anything) has caused most students at HVCHS to lose much respect for the decisions of the School Board and other administrators. The drug testing has done nothing but turn experimenting teens to harder, more unsafe and un-testable drugs, cause family feuds, cause a TON of lost educational time, while the ones who choose to not get tested are forced to lose all privileges a high-schooler rightfully deserves, no matter the choices he makes outside of school.

4)We are PAYING for all of this: Every single student's parents pay taxes that go directly to the school. In fact, they were increased this year by a pretty large amount. Our money is paying for lots of these extra-curriculars, and sports. Also, we are paying for the 3rd party company that lab tests our urine. Meaning, our taxes are going to things that we're required to get tested to be apart of, and ALSO the drug tests themselves. So, if we're paying for all this, shouldn't every single student be GUARANTEED that they are allowed to join any sport or any club or go to any event? By drug testing us, and not allowing those who don't decide to get tested to have these privileges, it practically removes all purpose in being in high school for anything other than your education. Why do our personal decisions and life have anything to do with how we perform in sports and clubs? EVERY student, no matter the choices he makes outside of school, should be able to attend events, and join sports and clubs. Since we are paying for all this, It is our right, not a privilege, to join sports clubs and go to events. As high schoolers and young adults, our decisions outside of school should be NONE of the school's business, and don't reflect AT ALL on how well one can perform in sports and extra-curriculars.

HOPEWELL VALLEY CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL AND THE BOARD OF EDUCATION MUST REMOVE Board Policy 5538R AND AGREE TO NEVER CROSS THE BARRIER BETWEEN ONE'S EDUCATION, ATHLETICS, AND EXTRA-CURRICULAR AND THEIR PERSONAL CHOICES.

And if an administrator is reading this, which I hope they are, Please, ask your students what they think of what you're doing to them. Yeah. You're hurting us more than helping us, our personal lives, our family lives, and much more over us being teens.

LEAVE OUR PERSONAL LIVES ALONE AND LET US BE TEENS