CITY SCHOOLS STUDY RANDOM DRUG TESTS

HARRISONBURG - The city School Board is waiting on a report on the
viability of random drug-testing for all Harrisonburg High School
students involved in extracurricular activities before moving forward
on such a program.

The board announced it was exploring the option last week as part of
a report on the division's independent investigation into alleged
drug use by HHS football players.

Such testing policies, although still relatively rare, have been
sanctioned by the U.S. Supreme Court and used by school systems in
Virginia and across the country.

The issue of drug testing, however, has forced school officials
elsewhere to weigh student privacy with health issues along with cost
and legal concerns.

National Drug Testing

According to a national survey performed in September 2003, 13
percent of high schools nationally had a drug-testing program.

The survey was conducted jointly by the National Federation of State
High School Associations, the National Interscholastic Athletic
Administrators Association and the National Center for Drug Free Sport.

A total of 861 athletic directors completed the survey.

Of the schools that had a drug-testing policy in place, 63 percent
tested student athletes, while 20 percent tested all students.
Testing was mandatory in 82 percent of the schools, and tests were
given randomly 76 percent of the time, according to the high school
federation Web site.

In addition to those schools with drug-testing programs in place,
another 17 percent indicated that they were interested in pursuing
one, the Web site said.

The most common reasons given for not starting a drug-testing program
were budget constraints (54 percent), lack of school board approval
(51 percent) and legal concerns (50 percent), the Web site said.

Discussion, No Action

While the city is considering random drug testing, school officials
in Rockingham and Augusta counties do not anticipate the issue coming up.

"Our board has not felt the need to do that at this particular point,
said Augusta County Schools Superintendent Gary McQuain.

The issue has not come before the Rockingham County School Board,
said Superintendent Carol Fenn, nor does she anticipate that it would.

Fenn, who began her job in Rockingham County a year ago, said she has
looked at drug-testing programs in other school systems.

The cost per student seems to be an important factor in keeping those
types of programs from being implemented, she said.

Testing Guidelines

The U.S Supreme Court has ruled that the random drug testing of
students in extracurricular activities is legal.

The court, however, required that the school divisions conducting the
tests adhere to certain procedures.

Following the Supreme Court decision, the Virginia Department of
Education provided school divisions with guidelines on developing
voluntary and mandatory drug-testing programs. The guidelines include
disclosing the policy, ensuring confidentiality and outlining
consequences for failing the test.

Preventive Action

No legal challenges have come before the Lynchburg City Schools in
the seven years that Paul McKendrick has been superintendent there.

The program at Lynchburg is for athletes only, he said.

"We've never expanded it beyond that because it is expensive," McKendrick said.

The cost for the program this year will be more than $40,000, he
said. The number of students tested with that money and the number of
students who have failed previous testing were not immediately available.

But McKendrick said the trade-off in cost and student welfare is worth it.

"Maybe it has saved us a lot of tragedy and kept students safe and
kept them healthy," he said.

Privacy Concerns

Even with the Supreme Court's backing, the American Civil Liberties
Union still has its doubts about drug testing, said Kent Willis,
executive director of the ACLU of Virginia.

"It is a legal invasion of privacy for a government to require a drug
test under any circumstance," he said.

Willis said drug testing could hurt the students who would otherwise
be helped by extracurricular programs. Students wishing to avoid the
testing might not participate in the activities that are helpful in
keeping them out of trouble, he said.

"No one has been able to show that students who do drugs will give
them up to participate in extracurricular activities where drug
testing is taking place," Willis said.

Instead of drug testing, the ACLU backs more education, counseling
and extracurricular activities, he said.

University of Virginia Law professor Richard Bonnie said that
although drug testing is constitutional, "it is not wise to use such
a program because the goal of identifying students with drug problems
can be achieved more effectively and fairly by individualized
clinical screening."

"Moreover, testing students is a costly and inappropriate way to try
to deter drug use," Bonnie said.