Boston's Foxborough School To Implement Breathalyzers

by amyellensoden | October 12, 2009 at 11:31 am

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Boston's Foxborough school is set to implement the use of breathalyzers in school buildings, at dances, and any extracurricular activities. This new action plan to crack down on underage drinking will be put to a vote by the Members of the School Committee on October 19th.

Foxborough plans to discipline students who test positive with a five day suspension from school followed by a two week suspension from after-school activities. If students test positive on more than one occasion, then expulsion will be considered.

The Foxborough schools bought two digital alcohol detectors which register a blood-alcohol level almost immediately, officials said. A reading over 0.02 will test positive. Those who refuse the test will be disciplined. Anyone who tests positive must be removed from school or an event by a parent, officials said.

Breathalyzer tests would occur during school hours with all students and could possibly take place on a daily basis. To test all students would certainly be time consuming. On the other hand, selecting students on the assumption that they would test positive will undoubtedly result in accusations of targeting.

While many parents are relieved by the decision to implement breathalyzers in the Foxborough school, many more are concerned at the backlash that could occur.

Sarah Wunsch, a staff attorney for the ACLU of Massachusetts, said the plan was a terrible idea. "If you observe a kid who smells of alcohol and is stumbling around, that's probably enough to go on,'' she said.

Breathalyzers only drive kids to use drugs, instead of booze, so they won't get caught. Or they might drive them to go places where they won't be observed by parents, she said.

Introducing breathalyzers at Foxborough is part of an overall strategy to cut down on underage drinking and reduce the risk of hospitalization. Last year there were 12 incidents of underage drinking in the Foxbourough district.