TESTING FOR AWARENESS

Drug Program For Manatee Athletes Needs Discussion

Federal funds are available to Manatee County's school district to
test student-athletes for drugs and alcohol: Who knew?

Not enough people, including some important figures in the school
district.

Some School Board members and athletic directors were caught off
guard and unaware this week when Herald-Tribune reporter Christopher
O'Donnell asked them about the district's emerging plan to implement
the testing program.

But O'Donnell's article, a surge of information sharing by the
district and a proposal to hire a testing-program chief, scheduled
for School Board consideration Monday, provide greater awareness --
and, we hope, will lead to a broader public discussion of the most
effective ways that public schools can help deter young people from
illegally consuming alcohol and drugs.

In March, the School Board approved a staff recommendation to apply
for a six-figure federal grant, as well as "accept and expend" the
funds. The recommendation was contained on the "consent agenda,"
which the School Board, like other public boards, generally approves
with little debate. In this case, board minutes don't mention a
discussion about the program.

In June, the National Office of Drug Control Policy announced that 49
schools in 20 states had been awarded grants to underwrite random
testing of certain student groups. Manatee was granted $103,000;
another district in Florida, Polk County, was awarded $196,000.

Since then, Manatee district officials have been in the early stages
of creating a three-year program. The board and its staff still need
to consider hiring a qualified coordinator, approve the testing
protocols and communicate the program to the six participating high
schools.

Board member Jane Pfeilsticker said she'll ask that the hiring
process be publicly discussed during Monday's meeting; that's a good,
obvious way to begin to increase awareness and generate constructive
discussion as the plan is rolled out next month to athletic
directors and other key figures.

In retrospect, it would have served everyone's interests if the grant
application hadn't been treated as such a routine matter; after all,
this is a serious matter, complex legal issues are involved and the
testing will be limited to high school athletes, including
cheerleaders. All of these conditions raise questions about whether
the program will be cost-effective and fair: Student-athletes have
already been singled out in a statewide program created to test 1
percent of high school players for steroid use; since the program
began last July, 425 male and female varsity athletes have been
tested for performance enhancing substances and only one has tested
positive.

Fortunately, it's not too late for the School Board, district
administration, athletic directors, students and parents to have a
productive discussion about how to proceed and provide young people
with the knowledge and tools they need.

It would also be useful for Manatee officials to get input about
effectiveness from their counterparts in Sarasota's school district,
which had random testing for athletes but dropped the program this
year when grant funding expired.

Experts differ on how to deter alcohol and drug use by teens; for example,
a report titled "Making Sense of Drug Testing: Why Educators Are Saying No"
is posted on the Florida Department of Education's Web site for its Office
of Drug Testing.

Still, local advocates of testing high school students make strong
arguments. Studies, surveys and anecdotal evidence suggest that
alcohol consumption is frequent. Statistics indicate an alarming rise
in the unauthorized use of powerful prescription drugs;
unfortunately, those drugs aren't on the testing list.

Although the fear of testing won't deter all student-athletes from
using alcohol or drugs, the program would provide them with a tool
for resisting peer pressure and it also provides for treatment
referrals in the event that results indicate a problem. But in light
of the selectivity of the program and the questions about
effectiveness, the School Board, experts, students, parents and the
community ought to be fully engaged in the decision-making.

The challenge, it seems, is how the public schools can help all
students -- whether or not they're involved in athletics -- make the
right choices. And the reality is that, if the problem is such that
it warrants testing a small group, are there sufficient strategies
for helping the vast majority of students avoid the same risks?