Some students at St. Michael's High School may find themselves submitting to a drug test in the fall.

The private Catholic school, which serves about 700 students in grades 7 through 12, sent an email to parents and posted it on Facebook, stating, "St. Michael's High School is considering implementing random drug testing of its students beginning fall 2012."

Hair samples will be taken by either Principal Sam Govea or one of his vice principals, all of whom will be trained by the Psychemedics Corporation, based in Culver City, Calif.

According to its website, Psychemedics has received FDA clearance to perform drug tests with both head and body hair. Such tests show the presence of cocaine, marijuana, opiates, methamphetamine and phencyclidine (PCP).

"We're excited about this opportunity to help our kids," Govea said by phone Friday. "I think this is a great thing, giving our kids another reason to say no. Drugs are everywhere -- I don't care what school you are at. We can't stick our head in the sand about it; we have to be proactive."

Govea noted that "Everyone's first inclination is to ask, 'Do you have a drug problem?' " But, he said, "When you have one kid taking drugs, you have a drug problem."

Govea said many parents have told him they are behind the decision. One is Dawn Wink. "Anything that detracts from a sense of safety takes away from learning, so I support it," she said. "There's no place for drugs on a school campus. Students' individual rights in the classroom end when they begin infringing on other students' rights -- and drugs do that."

But not everyone is pleased. St. Michael's parent Ronnie Ortiz, referring to the school's Lasallian tradition of displaying respect, servicing the poor and accepting all faiths, said, "You treat people with love, you don't look at them as suspects. This is not what Jean-Baptiste de la Salle [founder of the Christian Brothers] intended or how he wanted us to treat each other."

She said her son told her he doesn't have a problem with the plan, however.

Another St. Michael's mother, Carol Campbell, said, "I think that St. Mike's should stick to teaching academics and let us parents do the parenting."

Martha Lopez Gilpin, who graduated from the school in 1978, said by phone Friday that the policy does not fit into the school's tradition of creating community leaders and contributing citizens.

"Either the administration is inept at providing that kind of leadership, misguided, or it just has a great lack of faith in the student body," she said. "To be sure, there are kids with drug problems. But these are great kids, so to criminalize the student body and imply to these young adults, 'you are incapable of making good decisions' suggests to me that we are not capable of teaching them how to make those decisions."

According to the letter sent to parents, the school will choose students at random via a student lottery using their ID numbers. Govea said Friday that if a student tests positive, he or she will be given 90 days to straighten up before taking a second test. If that test comes up positive, he said, "Then they made their decision to leave St. Mike's."

Govea said that the school expects to test 10 to 15 percent of its student body annually.

Neither the private Desert Academy or the Santa Fe Waldorf High School responded to inquiries regarding drug-test policies. Jim Leonard, head of school for Santa Fe Preparatory, said via email, "We do not do random drug testing for students and are not considering implementing such a policy. The only conditions under which we would drug test would be if we were to suspect a student is under the influence."

St. Michael's was founded as a boys school in 1859 at the behest of New Mexico Archbishop Jean Baptiste Lamy and opened under the direction of four French Christian Brothers. The facility became co-educational in the mid-1960s and moved to its home on Siringo Road in 1967.

Contact Robert Nott at 986-3021 or rnott@sfnewmexican.com.