SCHOOL OFFICIALS KNEW LITTLE OF DRUG TEST PLAN

MANATEE COUNTY - Manatee school officials were ready to enact one of
the state's most stringent drug testing programs for athletes this
fall even though some School Board members and athletic directors knew
little about it.

One board member said yesterday she could not remember voting on a
measure to seek a grant for the program that would test roughly 1,000
athletes and cheerleaders for use of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and
alcohol.

Students who test positive could be suspended from competition and
eventually kicked out of sports.

The board voted to approve an application for a federal grant to fund
drug testing in March. But none was aware the district was awarded the
$103,000 grant in June and that officials have drafted testing
procedures and sanctions for positive tests.

The details of the testing program were drawn up by Skip Wilhoit, a
teacher with Manatee's Safe and Drug-Free Schools program.

Wilhoit said he met with School Advisory Committees and talked to
principals of the high schools during that process. School Board
members approved the program when they approved the grant application,
he said.

"In essence they approved the program," Wilhoit said. "I guess it
would behoove them to read the fine print."

When the issue came before the board in March, it was listed on the
consent agenda that typically holds issues considered too trivial for
major debate. The description of the proposed program was only four
paragraphs long and did not include information about how testing
would be done, penalties for positive tests, whether there is an
appeal process, or what happens if there is a false positive.

Board member Harry Kinnan said Thursday that not enough scrutiny was
given to the program, which was never subjected to a public hearing.

"Nobody had ever talked to anybody about this; my concern is that we
get input from all the schools and all the athletic directors," Kinnan
said. "It looks like they're trying to fast-track this."

The scope and implications of the program should be aired publicly
before it begins, Kinnan said.

When first asked, Board member Jane Pfeilsticker said Thursday she did
not remember voting to seek the grant or start the program.

Pfeilsticker said she will ask that a measure to hire a drug
technician to run the program be pulled off the consent agenda at
Monday's meeting and be put before the board and public for debate.

"We can get it out into discussion and then into the public eye," said
Pfeilsticker, who has also asked for a written policy on testing to be
put into the official student code of conduct.

Other board members say they remember applying for the
grant.

But several athletic directors contacted were also in the dark about
the program that would require athletes, cheerleaders and student
volunteers to undergo urine and breath tests. Unlike state-ordered
testing in the past, the Manatee tests would not screen for steroid
use.

The first penalty for testing positive is a temporary suspension from
competition and mandatory drug education. But a third positive can
result in a ban from sports.

Wilhoit said the program is needed in Manatee County because drug use
by county students is above the state average.