SOME STUDENTS DISLIKE, BUT POLICE APPLAUD IDEA OF DRUG TESTING

Some disgruntled students say mandatory drug testing could lower enrollment
figures for a few local private schools this fall.

Or, taking the more optimistic view of school administrators, the tests
could cut down on the number of youngsters using illegal drugs.

Law enforcement officials are applauding the efforts of several local
private schools considering mandatory and random drug testing for students
and faculty. Cutting down on juvenile drug use could eventually cut down on
juvenile crime, they say.

Even more important to private school officials, however, is that the drug
testing will be a great deterrent and may be the best reason a student has
to just say no.

Students who refuse to take the test or fail it more than once could face
expulsion.

Some students wholeheartedly agree with the proposed policies. But others
see the tests as an invasion of their privacy, protected by the Fourth
Amendment, outlawing illegal searches.

The local private schools are joining a growing number of educational
institutions around the nation turning to drug testing.

McGill-Toolen High School is preparing to spend more than $60,000 annually
to administer mandatory drug tests to every student - about 1,100 - and
every faculty member, beginning this fall.

The Alabama School of Mathematics and Science wants to mirror that
initiative for its 300 students, at a cost of more than $15,000 annually.

Both schools are awaiting final approval of the plans from their boards.

UMS-Wright Preparatory School will continue to drug-test students suspected
of using illegal drugs, as it has for ((1 years. Beginning this fall, it
will also require a drug test for faculty members driving school vehicles
and one for new employees working directly with children, said Headmaster
Tony Havard.

Just last week, the Mobile County school district voted on first reading to
approve a new drug-testing policy. A public hearing set for 4 p.m. Feb. 16
will invite local opinions about the policy for the 7,000-employee system.

If approved, prospective workers would be tested for drugs and alcohol
prior to employment. Workers already on the job would be subject to testing
when there is "reasonable suspicion." Mobile and Baldwin county school
districts require employees who drive school vehicles to take drug tests,
but do not conduct any student drug testing.

Mobile Mayor Mike Dow piqued the interest of local educators in 1998 when
he called for school drug testing here, saying drugs were "rampant in the
schools."

Testing students - even for athletes only - would just be too expensive,
officials from both public school agencies have said.

The private schools will pay anywhere from $20 to $45 a piece for student
drug tests.

Even if public schools had drug testing, they would not have the option of
kicking students out, like private schools do, said Mobile schools
spokesman Stephen Pryor.

Students give mixed views

"I think it's an extremely effective way to bring drug use down," said one
McGill-Toolen 10th grader, who declined to be identified. "Drug use is way
up at McGill-Toolen and the test is not a popular idea."

Tim Boothe, a senior, also liked the idea. "Drinking is actually the
biggest problem, I'd say. But I think the testing is a pretty good idea."

One junior girl, however, said she firmly believes the testing is a
violation of her Fourth Amendment rights.

"It's stupid and it's wrong," the girl said, declining to be identified.
"What I do on weekends is none of (the school's) business. I'll change
schools before I take that test. Even if I did take drugs, I make better
grades than most of the kids in this school."

Her friend, a senior who also declined to give his name, suggested that if
parents are concerned about whether their children are taking drugs, they
should administer such tests at home.

At the Alabama School of Mathematics and Science, a group of seniors said
they don't believe the test will have much impact there, because drug use
is so minimal among students.

"I think it's a good idea because if somebody's going to do drugs, they
don't belong here," said Chris Chriseson, of Alexandria. "It was made very
clear when we came here that drugs wouldn't be tolerated."

Students at the school come from all over the state and live at the school.

Stacie Nagy, a senior from Enterprise, said the school already provides a
"sanctuary" for those seeking help for a drug problem.

And, added Chriseson, everyone already knows who they are.

Police applaud effort

Law enforcement officials like any idea that will help quell drug use, they
say. They believe, however, that most of the drug problems are in the much
larger public school systems.

"I think it's outstanding," Mobile Police Chief Sam Cochran said of the
drug testing. "Drugs do lead to crime."

Studies conducted in New Orleans and in Birmingham - in which everyone
arrested is tested for drugs - show a very high percentage testing positive
for drugs or alcohol or both, he said.

"If public schools could run like private schools, it would be a lot
easier" for public schools to also test for drugs, Cochran said.

Mobile District Attorney John Tyson Jr. said there is no question drug
testing will deter juvenile crime.

"Several (private schools) have come to me to discuss drug testing," Tyson
said. "It's much more difficult for public schools. Let's face it," Tyson
said, "if they had $3 million, would they use it for drug testing? I
wouldn't."

That is about how much it would cost to test 67,000 students in Mobile's
school system, he said.

The American Civil Liberties Union takes the opposite view. The tests won't
stop drug use among those who have real problems, an ACLU attorney said.

"These drug tests do nothing but treat students like criminals," said
Martin McCaffery, an attorney for the Alabama branch of the ACLU. But
according to the U.S. Supreme Court, any school has the right to conduct
such tests, he said.

The U.S. Supreme Court gave the nod in 1995 to testing for student
athletes. It ruled that when children are in the care of the state, as they
are in school, the state has an interest to protect them. That interest
overrides their rights to privacy under the Fourth Amendment, the court ruled.

"You pretty much do shed your rights when you walk through the school
door," McCaffery said. "But if you smoked a joint at summer camp, what does
that really have to do with your academics?"

A matter of responsibility

Mobile United, a group of business leaders and nonprofit agencies,
approached the private schools last year, asking them to consider drug
testing, said the Rev. Bry Shields, president of McGill-Toolen. Dow is a
member of the group.

Some went along and some didn't.

For the Alabama School of Mathematics and Science, it is a matter of
responsibility, said Executive Director David Laurenson.

"As we began to think about it, it also gives students an excuse to say
'no,'" Laurenson said. "We have students here from all over the state that
we are responsible for 24 hours a day. We have to think like parents."

Parents want to do everything possible to keep their youngsters away from
drugs, he said.

Officials from several private schools in Mobile recently visited New
Orleans schools that already require drug testing.

And McGill-Toolen parents and administrators met last week with officials
from Psychemedics, the company that will perform the hair-analysis testing.
Psychemedics Corp. will conduct the tests for all the local schools setting
drug testing policies. The test can detect five illegal drugs ingested or
injected in the past 90 days - cocaine, marijuana, PCP, methamphetamines
and heroin. Experts consider the hair analysis less invasive and more
accurate than urinalysis.

"We are doing this primarily because we think it will help the students,"
McGill-Toolen's Shields said. If the Catholic high school's board approves
the new policy, a first positive drug test will require counseling. A
second positive test means expulsion. "There is a second chance built in,"
Shields said.

"We have the right to have certain rules of discipline," he said, and most
parents are backing the policy. Less than 20 of more than 200 parents
polled disagreed with the idea, he said.

UMS-Wright will continue to take a less rigid approach, working with
individual students and their parents on a case-by-case basis, Havard said.
"We have no step one, two and three."

St. Paul's Episcopal School in Mobile and Bayside Academy in Daphne are
both considering drug policies, but haven't reached any conclusions, school
officials say.

Positive in New Orleans

For Mount Carmel Academy, one of the first private schools in New Orleans
to adopt a student drug-testing policy, the results have been
overwhelmingly positive, said school Principal Sister Camille Anne.

"We began in 1998, after announcing it the year before. The kids applauded
and I was surprised," Sister Camille Anne said. "Out of 1,045 students, we
had no positives."

Since then, several students have come to her to admit drug use and ask for
help, knowing otherwise they would face the consequences, she said.

In addition to keeping drugs out of the schools, the testing program also
takes the onus off parents, said Yvonne Gelpi, president of De La Salle
High School in New Orleans. "They don't have to breach any trust by taking
their child to be drug tested because everyone is doing it at school.

"By far, the biggest advantage of the drug testing is relieving the peer
pressure youngsters face," Gelpi said. "I actually had one kid who ran with
a fast crowd. He told me that he used to wear a Band-Aid on his arm every
day and tell his friends his dad was testing him for drugs, just so he
didn't have to get any pressure."