Policy 5:50
General Personnel
Drug-Free and Alcohol-Free Workplace; E-Cigarette, Tobacco, and Cannabis Prohibition
All District workplaces are drug-free, alcohol-free and tobacco-free workplaces. All employees are prohibited from engaging in any of the following activities while on District premises, while performing work, or while on call for the District:
- Unlawful manufacture, dispensing, distribution, possession, use, or being under the influence of a an illegal or controlled substance.
- Distribution, consumption, use, possession, or being impaired by or under the influence of an alcoholic beverage; being present on District premises or while performing work for the District when alcohol consumption is detectible, regardless of when and/or where the use occurred.
- Distribution, consumption, possession, use, or being impaired by or under the influence of cannabis; being present on District premises or while performing work for the District when impaired by or under the influence of cannabis, regardless of when and/or where the use occurred, unless distribution, possession, and/or use is by a school nurse or school administrator pursuant to Ashley’s Law, 105 ILCS 5/22-33. The District considers employees impaired by or under the influence of cannabis when there is a good faith belief that an employee manifests specific articulable symptoms while working that decrease or lessen the employee’s performance of the duties or tasks of the employee’s job position.
Unless otherwise prohibited by this policy, prescription and over-the-counter medications are not prohibited when taken in standard dosages and/or according to prescriptions from the employee’s licensed health care provider, provided that an employee’s work performance is not impaired.
For purposes of this policy a controlled substance is one which is:
- Not legally obtainable;
- Being used in a manner different than prescribed;
- Legally obtainable, but has not been legally obtained; or
- Referenced in federal or state controlled substance acts.
For purposes of this policy, District premises means workplace as defined in the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act (CRTA) in addition to District and school buildings, grounds, and parking areas; vehicles used for school purposes; and any location used for a meeting of the Board of Education, school athletic event, or other school- sponsored or school-sanctioned events or activities. School grounds means the real property comprising any school, any conveyance used to transport students to school or a school-related activity, and any public way within 1,000 feet of any school ground, designated school bus stops where students are waiting for the school bus, and school- sponsored or school-sanctioned events or activities. Vehicles used for school purposes means school buses or other school vehicles.
As a condition of employment, each employee shall:
- Abide by the terms of this policy; and
- Notify the employee’s supervisor of the conviction under any criminal drug statute for a violation occurring on the District premises or while performing work for the District, no later than 5 days after such a conviction.
In order to make employees aware of dangers of drug and alcohol abuse, the District will:
- Provide each employee with a copy of this policy;
- Post notice of this policy in a place where other information for employees is posted;
- Make available materials from local, state, and national anti-drug and alcohol- abuse organizations;
- Enlist the aid of community and state agencies with drug and alcohol informational and rehabilitation programs to provide information to District employees;
- Establish a drug-free/ alcohol-free awareness program to inform employees
about:
- The dangers of drug abuse in the workplace,
- Available drug and alcohol counseling, rehabilitation, re-entry, and any
employee assistance programs, and
- The penalties that the District may impose upon employees for violations of
this policy.
- Remind employees that policy 6:60, Curriculum, requires the District to educate students, depending upon their grade, about drug, alcohol, and substance abuse prevention and relationships between drugs, alcohol, and violence.
E-Cigarette, Tobacco, and Cannabis Prohibition
All employees are covered by the conduct prohibitions contained in policy 8:30, Visitors to and Conduct on School Property and Community Use of Buildings. The prohibition on the use of e-cigarettes, tobacco, and cannabis products applies both (1) when an employee is on school property, and (2) while an employee is performing work for the District at a school event regardless of the event’s location. Tobacco shall have the meaning provided in Section 10-20.5b of the School Code.
Cannabis shall have the meaning provided in the CRTA, 410 ILCS 705/1-10.
E-Cigarette is short for electronic cigarette and includes, but is not limited to, any electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS), electronic cigar, electronic cigarillo, electronic pipe, electronic hookah, vape pen, or similar product or device, and any components or parts that can be used to build the product or device.
District Action Upon Violation of Policy
An employee who violates this policy may be subject to disciplinary action, including termination. In addition or alternatively, the Board may require an employee to successfully complete an appropriate drug or alcohol abuse, employee assistance rehabilitation program.
The Board of Education shall take disciplinary action with respect to an employee convicted of a drug offense in the workplace within 30 days after receiving notice of the conviction.
Should District employees be engaged in the performance of work under a federal contract or grant, or under a state contract or grant of $5,000 or more, the Superintendent shall notify the appropriate state or federal agency from which the District receives contract or grant monies of the employee’s conviction within 10 days after receiving notice of the conviction.
Adopted: May 4, 1998
Revised: January 27, 2014; February 24, 2020