JUST SAY YES: Are You Serious? Virginia School Board Refuses to Drug Test Teachers After Classroom Fentanyl Overdose.
The Spotsylvania County School Board rejected both a proposal covering all new hires and rehires with direct student contact and a narrower version limited to employees working with elementary and special education students. Board members Rich Lieberman, Larry DiBella, and Lorita Daniels supported the testing requirements. Four colleagues voted against them.
Superintendent Clint Mitchell urged the board to vote no; at a cost of roughly $25,000 per year, he argued, the district would lose teachers to neighboring counties. His remarks, posted to X by local reporter Nick Minock, circulated widely on Wednesday.
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The superintendent’s argument left Spotsylvania in a revealing position. The district could require a criminal background check, professional credentials, and fingerprints, but a basic drug screen for cocaine, opiates, PCP, and amphetamines was framed as an existential threat to the hiring pipeline. What Mitchell did not address was the incident that prompted the proposal in the first place.In May 2024, a rehired second-grade teacher overdosed on fentanyl in her classroom at Spotswood Elementary School.
Mitchell doesn’t want to send teachers to other counties, but guess which ones will want to come to Spotsylvania?
