CY-FAIR SET TO EXPAND DRUG TESTS

As More School Districts Embrace Random Testing, Critics Fear Push
Will Stifle Youths

Cypress-Fairbanks will become the largest Houston-area school system
to require random drug testing of high school students when it rolls
out a new federally funded program in the fall to curb teenage drug abuse.

The move will add Cy-Fair to the fast-expanding list of school
districts turning to drug-testing programs that now enjoy the
endorsement of most parents and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Yet while leaders of the 87,000-student Cy-Fair district hope random
testing will give students who compete in sports and academic
contests a way to dodge peer pressure, some opponents fear it could
discourage teens from joining teams and clubs. Random testing can
also create a hostile school environment and give parents a false
sense of security, they said.

"There's been a real big push from the federal government to promote
this as the answer to adolescent drug use," said Jennifer Kern, a
research associate with the New York-based nonprofit Drug Policy
Alliance. "The assumption, I guess, that propels this is that once
you randomly test students, they'll just stop experimenting. But
behavior is really complex. It doesn't always work that simply."

Still, opposition to the practice appears to be waning -- at least in
Texas public school districts, which nabbed 15 of the 55 grants
awarded in 2005 by the U.S. Department of Education. Cy-Fair's
three-year, $954,000 grant was the largest in the nation. Alvin and
League City were among the cities that won smaller grants.

Dozens of other Texas districts -- including Tomball, Katy and
Magnolia -- are using local tax dollars to create testing programs,
which were legally cleared by a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

"Texas has always been at the forefront," said Roy Garcia, assistant
superintendent for secondary school administration in Cy-Fair. "It
will be a positive way for students to find yet another reason to
simply say 'No.' "

The majority of Texas school districts, including Houston, don't have
random drug testing programs in place. Houston school district
leaders say they have no plans to introduce one.

Some school districts test student-athletes only when they have their
fall physical examinations.

The federal government began awarding the random drug testing grants
in 2003. The money pays for the cost of testing, counseling and other
support service.

The Cy-Fair school board approved the testing, administered by a
private company, last month.

Cy-Fair expects to test about 40 percent of the roughly 11,500 high
school students who participate in extracurricular activities for
alcohol and drugs, including amphetamines, cocaine, marijuana and steroids.

A computer that draws student names at random will decide who gets
tested. Those who test positive will be suspended from
extracurricular activities for three weeks for the first offense, six
weeks for the second and for the remainder of the year for the third.

Parents, who will be notified within two school days if their child's
urinalysis shows positive results, can request and pay for a retest
to overturn the positive result. Refusing to test will be counted as
a positive result.

Athletic Director Larry Peil said he doesn't think the policy will
scare kids from participating in sports and other groups.

"Kids want to play," he said. "It will be helpful in deterring drug abuse."

Michelle Murray, a parent of two Cy-Fair High School athletes and an
active booster club member, said she supports the policy -- as long
as the testing and reporting is handled professionally. She said she
worries about the number of youngsters abusing drugs, including
prescriptions and steroids.

"To me, it all sounds good," she said. "My kids are telling me all
the time about stuff kids are doing, especially in sports."

So far, most Houston-area parents seem to agree with Murray. The
Tomball school board approved an aggressive policy on Tuesday with no
opposition.

Connor Owens, a junior on Cy Falls' basketball team, said he thinks
the district should come out with "a list of what can be taken and
what can't." But he added, "I don't see any problem with (the new
requirement). You should be building up your body the right way, not
using steroids and stuff like that."

As part of the program, students who either participate in
extracurricular activities or park on campus with a school permit
will be subject to random testing.

"The new drug testing program is the greatest thing that's ever
happened" in the district, said George Pickering, whose twins,
Katherine and Benjamin, are freshmen at Tomball High School.

While Pickering initially worried about how results would be handled,
Tomball officials have since assured families that results won't be
part of students' permanent records.

Parents in Katy also have supported their district's 2-year-old
policy, spokesman Steve Stanford said. A private company handles
everything from selecting students to arranging tests and analyzing
results, he said.

"It's been a positive experience that we've seen in our district,"
Stanford said. "If it helps one student get off drugs or not start
using drugs, then it's successful."

Though Sasha McLean, manager of a Council on Alcohol and Drugs
Houston teen substance abuse program, encourages families to use
random drug testing at home, she warns that testing isn't a catch-all.

"It can be a really great accountability tool," she said. "But it's
never 100 percent accurate."

Tests can be tampered with, and many drugs leave a child's system
within 72 hours.

Kern, the Drug Policy Alliance researcher, and other critics also
question the effectiveness of drug testing. They point to a survey of
76,000 high school students, published in a 2003 Journal of School
Health, that showed school drug testing had little bearing on the
prevalence or frequency of drug use.

An earlier study, however, by researchers at Oregon Health & Science
University showed that student athletes at a high school with a
random drug testing policy reported they were much less likely to use
either recreational or performance-enhancing drugs.

"The evidence is unclear. There's research on both sides," said Bill
Modzeleski, associate assistant deputy secretary for the U.S.
Department of Education's Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools.

Because of that, the federal government plans to study the short-term
effects of drug testing in districts that win grants in 2006. While
the number of districts applying for the grants continues to
increase, Modzeleski said, some communities still have concerns.

"It's controversial because there's a lot of myths about drug
testing," he said. "There's a lot of questions that come out that
aren't answered correctly."

Assuring parents that test results cannot be held against a student
in the academic or criminal justice arenas will be key when Cy-Fair
leaders hold a series of community meetings in the next month to
introduce families to the new policy, Modzeleski said.

Frank Uryasz, president of the National Center for Drug Free Sport,
said he doubts parents in Cy-Fair or other districts nationally will
protest drug testing. Since the Supreme Court ruling, testing has
been on the rise and about 13 percent of the nation's high schools
already have policies, he said.

Working adults and college athletes have been subjected to testing
for two decades, he said.

"People recognize the value of drug testing," he said. "Public
opinion has shifted."

Chronicle correspondent Bill Breslin contributed to this report.