DRUG TESTING AT FRANCIS HOWELL SCHOOLS

Middle school students in the Francis Howell School District could
be tested for drugs by Nov. 1.

The district, which began a mandatory drug testing program for most
of its high school students in September, is starting a voluntary
testing program for middle school students. District spokesman Jim
Joyce said about 300 students' parents have signed them up for the
program, and the district will send letters soon to parents. The
letters will include sign-up forms. Joyce said district officials
estimate 700 of the 4,125 middle school students will agree to testing.

Joyce said the middle school testing program has some important
differences, but its goal is the same - offering students another
reason to say no to drugs and providing help to families with
students who are using them. He said similar programs have been effective.

"This is a good deterrent," he said.

Other St. Louis area school districts have either started drug
testing programs or are considering them. The Francis Howell
district is the second largest in St. Charles County behind Fort
Zumwalt, which has a voluntary drug testing program for high school
athletes and cheerleaders.

Francis Howell's high school drug testing policy requires all ninth-
through 12th-grade students who are involved in an extracurricular
activity or have a parking pass to be in a pool of students who
could be chosen randomly for a urine test. If they test
positive for drug use, they are required to receive at least four
weeks of counseling and are removed from extracurricular activities
- - and have their parking passes revoked - for 10 days.

More positive tests lead to more counseling and longer time out of activities.

The counseling is provided free through Bridgeway Counseling
Services. Parents can choose a different agency at their own
expense. The School Board has approved spending about $60,000 to
have Clinical Collection Management test students.

Middle school parents can sign up their students to be in the testing pool.

The middle school program will test for the same substances as the
high school program - including marijuana, cocaine and Ecstasy. But
the middle school test will not include steroids. Only some of the
high school testing includes steroids.

A positive test for drugs at the middle school level carries no
consequences, unlike the high school program. Joyce said parents
will be notified so they can get help for their children.

More school officials than parents attended a forum Thursday night
at Bryan Middle School explaining the testing program. Parents who
attended asked questions about how the tests would work and about
confidentiality. They also raised a common question about why the
district wasn't going to test all students.

Joyce said the district cannot test all students because a U.S.
Supreme Court decision in effect has limited testing to students who
are in activities or are receive other services beyond what is
required by law - such as the parking passes.

Bob Williford, 48, of St. Peters, said he had no problem with his
children being tested but that he wanted to make sure the test
samples were destroyed after testing was finished. He said he didn't
want his children's DNA to fall into the wrong hands, and he had
held his high school age children out of extracurricular activities
until he could get an answer to that question.

Joyce said the samples would be destroyed. The district will keep
files on students who test positive for drugs, he said, but those
files will be separate from their academic records and will be
destroyed after they graduate from middle school and from high school.

Joanne Davis, 45, of St. Peters, said she was pleased the district
was offering a drug testing program, and she hoped it would reduce
drug use among teens.

"If we get them when they're young and they're still open to things,
maybe we can make a difference," she said.