GALENA PARK – High school students in Galena Park will be randomly tested for drugs this upcoming school year.

The school district says the random drug tests will be administered to students in grades nine through 12 who take park in extra-curricular activities including football, cheerleading, band, choir and speech and debate.

“They shouldn’t be doing it anyway,” one parent told 11 News. “I think it’s a good thing. You don’t have all the accusations later, you know, about the drugs being used, anything like that. So, I think it’s a great thing.”

An estimated 80 percent of high school students in Galena Park participate in extra-curricular activities. Of those, approximately 20 percent could be randomly tested any time during the school year.

Students that test positive won’t be kicked out of school, according to Craig Eichorn of Galena Park ISD. Instead, students will be referred to a drug counselor and suspended from their activity for a pre-determined amount of time.

“We think of it more of a deterrent,” said Eichorn.  “[We think students] will say, ‘Hey, you know, if I’m going to be tested maybe I shouldn’t go to that party where drugs will be present.’ We want to intervene as soon as possible. So, if a student is experimenting for the first time, we want to make sure there’s not a second time. And if there is a second time we want to make sure there’s not a third.”

The district is paying for the random drug tests with money from a federal grant.

Galena Park ISD says the program is similar to the ones already in place in the Cy-Fair ISD and Katy ISD.