POLL: 90% WANT DRUG TESTS FOR STUDENTS

Mobile County residents overwhelmingly believe that public school
students, possibly as young as elementary and middle school-aged,
should be tested for drug use, results of a new
Press-Register/University of South Alabama poll suggest.

Ninety percent of respondents to the poll, which was conducted last
week, said the Mobile County Public School System should institute a
drug-testing program for its students.

The vast majority of respondents supported testing all students, as
well as more limited programs that would test students at random,
those who participate in extracurricular activities or students who
are suspected of drug use.

Nearly half of those polled said if drug testing were in place, it
should begin in the sixth grade or lower. Ninety-two percent said it
should begin by the ninth grade or lower.

Mobile County schools Superintendent Harold Dodge said he and his
staff have been looking into the possibility of testing students for
drugs. But, he said, there are several obstacles that the system
would face, including cost, student privacy issues and other legal questions.

"It sounds like a good idea, but there can be some real push-backs,"
Dodge said. "We're doing research, and we want to see what all of
those push-backs are."

The poll, conducted Monday through Thursday, includes responses from
406 adult residents of Mobile County. It has a margin of error of
plus or minus 5 percentage points.

The results come as more local school systems -- public and private
- -- are beginning to test students for drug use.

Baldwin County Public Schools began a pilot program at Gulf Shores
High School last year and is now randomly testing students at all
seven high schools.

Private schools

Several local private schools, including Mobile's McGill-Toolen
Catholic High School and Daphne's Bayside Academy, have been testing
students for drug use for the last few years.

Pat Taylor, representing community leadership group Mobile United,
has for the last three years been trying to convince Mobile County's
public schools to test students for drug use.

Taylor said that if the school board gave the OK, Mobile United would
begin raising money for the tests through federal grants and
businesses willing to donate funds. He said he would not want the
already cash-strapped school system to take money from other areas to
do the drug tests.

The cost of testing students would depend on how many schools
participate, how often the tests are conducted and whether students
were selected at random. Dodge said he has heard dollar amounts as
high as $45 per test.

'The right thing'

"I just feel so strongly that the right thing to do for our children
is drug testing," said Taylor, the assistant headmaster at Mobile's
St. Paul's Episcopal School, which tests all eighth-through
12th-grade students for drug use every year. The school also randomly
tests 25 percent of students in those grades a second time during the year.

"Statistics show that where drug testing is involved, children use
less drugs," Taylor added. "The use of less drugs over time will
change our culture and behavior patterns for all human beings."

Some education officials in Alabama and across the nation have
questioned whether public schools can legally test students who are
guaranteed the right to public education and what the consequences
can be for the students.

Private schools are able to expel students with drug problems, but
local private school administrators have said that they prefer
getting students counseling to help them overcome drug problems first.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that public schools can test
students who are involved in extracurricular activities, which is
what Baldwin County does.

Baldwin students who test positive for the first time cannot drive to
school or participate in extracurricular activities for 30 days. And
they are required to attend drug counseling.

Terry Wilhite, spokesman for Baldwin schools, said a noticeable
difference has been seen at Gulf Shores High.

The drug testing, Wilhite said, "has changed the tenor of the campus
from whispers about drug use to an absolute silence of any type of
drug use. ... Now it's talked of reasons why the drug testing is a
good reason to say no."

Baldwin County's drug testing program is set to expand to middle
schools in January 2008.

Pilot program

With funding from the Mobile County Sheriff's Office, Mary G.
Montgomery High School in Semmes participated in a pilot program in
2004 by testing its baseball players for drug use. Montgomery
Principal George Romano said the tests lasted two or three years but
stopped when the money ran out.

"It gives the kids an out," Romano said. "They can say, 'I don't want
to do that. I don't want to get caught or I won't get to play baseball.'"

Romano said none of his students tested positive for drugs, ranging
from steroids to marijuana.

A majority of poll respondents said they believe drug use among young
people is a major problem. They also said that any drug-testing
program should focus more on prevention and treatment, than on punishment.

"The reason to do it is to try to catch them, not to punish them but
to try to get them to stop," said Romano, who added that he supports
testing students for drugs.

"You cannot stop them from doing drugs unless you catch them," Romano
said. "If you don't catch them, it gets worse."