Student testing runs under its own framework: 49 CFR Part 40 does not apply to students. In New Jersey, a board of education may adopt a random testing policy only for students in grades 9 through 12 who take part in extracurricular activities, including interscholastic athletics, or who hold a school parking permit (N.J.S.A. 18A:40A-23), after a public hearing and with a written policy distributed to students and parents each school year; the consent of the student and a parent or guardian is the condition of participation, and any discipline is limited to suspension from those activities or loss of the parking permit (N.J.S.A. 18A:40A-24). PSI administers student drug testing programs inside that framework: building the program around the adopted policy, running the random selection among the eligible students the policy names, handling collections with discretion at a location the board designates, and returning results only as the policy and the statute provide, which includes the parents. Private and parochial schools sit outside the statute and build a consent-based program of their own. The goal a school sets is usually deterrence and support, and the program is run to match that.
When this is the program
- A district adopting or refreshing a student testing policy
- An athletics program testing student athletes under a board policy
- A private or parochial school building a consent-based program from scratch
- A school that wants the logistics handled quietly and correctly
What's included
- Program built around the district's adopted policy
- Random selection among the eligible student group the statute and the policy define: grades 9 through 12, extracurricular participants and parking-permit holders
- Collections handled with discretion, on site or at the location the board designates
- Results returned only as the adopted policy and the statute provide, with the confidentiality standards the policy must state
- Records handled as education records under FERPA, under the district's direction
- Communication designed for a setting where the participants are minors and families are involved
How it works with PSI
- The adopted policy leads; PSI runs the program the policy defines, inside the scope the statute allows
- Discretion and confidentiality treated as core requirements from the start
- One point of contact for administrators through the whole cycle
Regulatory notes
Student testing is not governed by 49 CFR Part 40. In New Jersey, random student testing is limited to students in grades 9 through 12 in extracurricular activities or holding parking permits, with student and parent consent (N.J.S.A. 18A:40A-23 and -24). Records are education records under FERPA. Private schools operate under their own consent-based policies.