CATHOLIC SCHOOL TO RANDOMLY TEST FOR DRUGS

TAMPA - Tampa Catholic High School will enact random drug testing this
fall, becoming one of the few area schools to do so for all students.

A quarter of the private school's 730 students will be screened
annually for eight drugs. The first positive result will bring
counseling and follow-up testing; the second brings expulsion.

"Students are very susceptible to peer pressure, and we know that
drugs have become increasingly prevalent," Principal Patricia Landry
said Thursday. "We feel this will provide students a positive
incentive to consider saying no."

Public schools in Hillsborough and Pasco counties do not conduct drug
tests, although Polk County public schools have tested
student-athletes.

Landry is aware of one other local, private high school with random
testing - Clearwater Central Catholic High School, which began its
program in 2002. She said no incident spurred Tampa Catholic's
decision to begin testing, which it first considered five years ago.

"We do not have a bad problem," she said.

Parents will be required to sign a testing consent
form.

Cindy Aguila, whose son Michael is a Tampa Catholic sophomore, said
the program will help parents protect their children.

"Maybe some parents will say that it interferes with their children's
rights, but I want my kids to grow up to be good human beings and good
men," said Aguila, whose son Nicolas will be a Tampa Catholic freshman
in the fall.

In 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that public schools could
conduct random drug testing of athletes, expanding that in 2002 to
include students involved in extracurricular activities.

In New Jersey, at least two high schools have implemented random urine
tests for alcohol.

In Florida, a Miami lawmaker has again introduced legislation to allow
random steroid testing of student-athletes in public and private high
schools.

There has been no push to test Hillsborough's public school students,
district spokesman Steve Hegarty said.

"We are considering something right now that would bring canine units
into schools to check lockers," he said. "They wouldn't come into
contact with students, but they would go through parking lots, where
they would be able to pick up the scents of drugs in somebody's trunk."

Tampa Catholic High, 4630 N. Rome Ave., is part of the Catholic
Diocese of St. Petersburg, which leaves drug testing decisions to
individual schools, said Vicki Wells Bedard, diocesan
spokeswoman.

Tampa Catholic administrators met with their counterparts at
Clearwater Central, which randomly tests 10 percent of its 620
students each year for alcohol, ecstasy, marijuana, cocaine and other
drugs. Landry wasn't sure which drugs would be screened at Tampa Catholic.

At Clearwater Central, "few, if any" students test positive, Principal
Dulce Roman said.

"It's so very confidential, very random," said John Venturella, the
school's president. "By and large, it is not punitive. ... We're trying
to help kids."

Not everyone considers the testing worthwhile.

Tom Angell, campaigns director for Washington-based Students For
Sensible Drug Policy, said money spent on testing should be used for
drug education or to increase teacher pay.

"Random drug testing treats students like they are guilty until they
are proven innocent," Angell said. "We also think that it can make
existing school drug problems worse than they actually are by breaking
valuable [levels] of trust that exist between students and school officials."

But Tampa Catholic football coach Bob Henriquez, a former state
lawmaker, supports his school's decision.

"Bottom line is, we're a Catholic school based on certain tenets for
faith and behavior," he said. "And if this helps to identify some
students that may have issues that we can help, I don't have a problem
with it."