Employees who operate school vehicles are subject to drug and alcohol testing if a commercial driver’s license is required to operate the school vehicle and the school vehicle transports sixteen or more persons including the driver or the school vehicle weighs twenty-six thousand one pounds or more. For purposes of the drug and alcohol testing program, the term “employees” includes applicants who have been offered a position to operate a school vehicle.
The employees operating a school vehicle as described above are subject to pre-employment drug testing and random, reasonable suspicion, and post-accident, drug and alcohol testing pursuant to state and federal law. Pre-employment alcohol tests are not authorized by law, but drug testing in required.
Employees governed by this policy shall be subject to the drug and alcohol testing program beginning the first day they operate or are offered a position to operate school vehicles and continue to be subject to the drug and alcohol testing program as long as they may be required to perform a safety-sensitive function as it is defined in the administrative regulations. Employees with questions about the drug and alcohol testing program may contact South Tama County Community School District Business Office at 1702 Harding Street, Tama, Iowa 52339.
Employees operating school vehicles shall not perform a safety-sensitive function within four hours of using alcohol or at any time if the employee is impaired and unable to safely perform their safety-sensitive functions.
Employees who violate the terms of this policy are subject to discipline up to and including termination.
It is the responsibility of the superintendent to develop administrative regulations to implement this policy. The superintendent shall also inform applicants of the requirement for drug and alcohol testing in notices or advertisements for employment, in the application form, and personally at the first interview with the applicant.
The superintendent shall also be responsible for publication and dissemination of this policy and its supporting administrative regulations to employees operating school vehicles. The superintendent shall also oversee a substance-free awareness program to educate employees about the dangers of substance abuse.
(December 18, 1995; June 16, 1997; July 17, 2000; June 18, 2012, February 18, 2015; January 19, 2015; March 9, 2015; June 10, 2019)