The Houston County School Board has terminated a bus driver who, according to system officials, tested positive for marijuana use on a random drug test.
Houston County School Superintendent Tim Pitchford confirmed that a bus driver was terminated at a Monday meeting of the school board. School system records show that bus driver Anita Kirkland was terminated Monday.
Pitchford said the bus driver tested positive on a random drug test given in December. Houston County randomly drug tests all personnel who have commercial driver’s licenses. The testing is done several times per year, depending on the number of staff being tested, administrative secretary Diane Lingo said.
Pitchford said the driver’s sample was tested twice by EDPM, a Birmingham company.
Pitchford said he placed Kirkland on administrative leave immediately after finding out she tested positive for marijuana use. Kirkland drove for the Cottonwood School district.
“It’s really a no-brainer,” Pitchford said. “We’re not hauling tractor parts. These are children and I can’t risk having someone who tested positive for drugs or alcohol drive them around.”
Sharon Cole, a local Alabama Education Association representative, said Kirkland’s case would go to arbitration because of her due process rights as a tenured employee. Cole said Kirkland’s results could have been a false positive.
“If you go out and eat sesame seeds you can test positive,” she said.
Kirkland will continue to receive a paycheck from the county schools until her case goes before an arbitrator. It usually takes about six months to get a case before an arbitrator.
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws opposes random drug tests, saying that they don’t measure impairment. Allan St. Pierre, NORML executive director, said the organization is against impaired driving, especially for school transportation officials, but a hair or urinalysis screen doesn’t determine whether the subject was impaired while he or she was on the job.
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