OLDHAM SCHOOLS MAY ADD DRUG TESTS

Student Activities Could Join Athletics

Oldham County's student athletes have been tested randomly for drug
use since 1998, but the school board is considering whether to expand
the policy to include students who participate in any extracurricular
activity.

The board is scheduled to vote tonight on the proposed policy change,
which could mean random testing for students involved in anything
from the debate team to the pep club. If approved, Oldham's revised
policy would go into effect next school year.

Expanding the policy would make Katie Dogan, a South Oldham High
junior who plays clarinet in the band, subject to random testing for
the first time. Still, she said, "it's probably a good thing."

"There are more people than just athletes that do it," Katie said,
referring to drug use.

If the policy is approved, Oldham schools would follow a national
trend, fueled in part by a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision that
upheld schools' right to administer the drug tests.

Writing for the majority, Justice Clarence Thomas said such a policy
"reasonably serves the school district's important interest in
detecting and preventing drug use among its students."

Oldham schools have been paying for drug testing out of the
district's general fund since 1998. It has cost about $10,000
annually for the past couple of years.

But the U.S. Department of Education offered grant money this year
for the testing through its Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools.
That's why Oldham is expanding its program, said Michael Williams,
who oversees student drug testing. Oldham's grant is for about
$167,000 annually, renewable after three years, he said.

Williams estimated the district administered about 900 random tests
each year and that will likely increase to 3,500 with the grant.

In Kentucky, the push has been to develop policies aimed at getting
students help rather than punishing them, said Jon Akers, executive
director of the Kentucky Center for School Safety.

Williams said Oldham school officials have the same goal -- "to help
those kids get help" -- but that's addressed through disciplinary
action outlined in the policy.

A student who tests positive would be suspended from the activity for
a month, or that suspension could be reduced to a week if the student
agrees to drug counseling.

Subsequent offenses would mean longer suspensions in addition to drug
counseling, up to the fourth offense, when the student would be
barred from participating in activities for the rest of his or her
high school career.

Any student who refuses to be tested wouldn't be allowed to
participate in sports or extracurricular activities.

The policy would allow individual schools to write additional
sanctions for students who violate the district policy.

Dozens of Kentucky school districts test various groups of students,
said Brad Hughes, spokesman for the Kentucky School Boards
Association. Five districts test student athletes and those in
extracurricular activities, 17 test student drivers and those in
extracurricular activities, six test student athletes and student
drivers and 22 test student athletes only.

Jefferson County Public Schools doesn't conduct random drug testing,
except at two alternative schools that have pilot programs.

Pulaski County Schools began random testing this year for students
who drive to school as well as those in extracurricular groups, also
using a grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

The district hasn't compiled data to review the new policy, but
spokeswoman Sonya Wilds said it's been a positive experience and the
community has supported it.

In Oldham County, members of South Oldham High's parent-teacher-student
association seem to accept testing more students as "a wave of the
future," said Judy Vetovitz, whose daughter Michelle is a junior at
the school.

But Vetovitz said she'd rather all students be subject to random drug
testing than to single out groups of students, including athletes and
students in extracurricular activities.

"I think some people think, 'Oh, not my Johnny,' but yes -- any
Johnny, any Judy any Julies," Vetovitz said. "It can be any of them."

Michelle plays soccer for the school but said she's never been called
to submit to a drug test. And since she's also active on the student
council and in the Spanish, diplomacy and spirit clubs, she'll be
more likely to be selected.

But she figures that doesn't matter, adding "Whether I'm in one sport
or 10, I'm still going to have my name in the hat."