DRUG-TESTER SEES APPROVAL OF STUDENTS

Regina Wainwright has a mouthful of a job title: random student
drug-testing project director for the Chandler Unified School District.

Even her mother needs a translation.

"She is always saying, 'Now, what is it that you do?' " Wainwright said.

"I just say, 'Mom, I'm the drug lady.' "

The "drug lady" has been busy since she was hired this year as
full-time administrator of the district's new program to randomly
test students involved in extracurricular activities at its three high schools.

The program, announced last October, was made possible by a
three-year, $718,000 federal grant. Already, 81 students have been
tested at Basha, Chandler and Hamilton high schools in on-campus
visits by Wainwright and her team of three assistants.

To date, no student has tested positive. However, response to the
program seems overwhelmingly positive.

"I had one young man say, 'This will prove to everyone that I don't
take steroids. I'm glad you pulled my name,' " Wainwright said. "We
really have not had a negative reaction."

A separate database is kept at each high school of the district's
4,000 high school students who are involved in activities governed by
the Arizona Interscholastic Association. In addition to sports, these
activities include music, drama, speech and debate, and cheerleading.

A Phoenix testing company uses a computer program to issue
non-identifiable numbers. Students are pulled from class with no
advance notice and taken by gender to one of two mobile bathrooms.

"It's completely random and anonymous," Wainwright said. "I have zero
control over whose names are pulled, and it needs to be that way."

Urine samples are sent off to a Phoenix lab, and initial results come
back to Wainwright in 24 to 48 hours. Wainwright said she tries to
make same-day contact with the parents of students who have been
tested. A letter with the test results goes out to the parents in
about two weeks.

Administering a start-up program has been a challenge for Wainwright,
who previously was an assistant principal at Seton Catholic High
School in Chandler.

"I firmly believe in preventive programs for teenagers," she said.
"Many times, they don't have a reason to say no, and this gives them one.

"These students (in extracurricular activities) are in the forefront
of the school culture, and their decisions reverberate throughout the school."

Wainwright expects her job to become tougher as soon as there is a
positive test.

"Attitudes will change then," she said. "You'll have some negative
reaction, because the reality of the consequences will hit."

A first positive test results in an eight-week loss of AIA
eligibility, increasing to the remainder of the school year for a
second positive and to a permanent ban for a third. The eight-week
suspension can be cut in half if the offender participates in counseling.

Substances for which the tests screen include alcohol, amphetamines,
marijuana, cocaine, Ecstasy, PCP and anabolic steroids.