SECOND SCHOOL WEIGHS DRUG TESTS

An Illinois Catholic school has begun discussing mandatory drug
testing for its students, a month after Christian Brothers College
high school introduced the idea.

Principal Mike Slaughter at Marquette Catholic High in Alton is
pushing to start a testing program next school year for its 280 students.

CBC in Town and Country presented a proposal in January to parents of
its 1,100 students.

Slaughter said he began looking into the CBC plan as soon as the story
hit the paper last month. He has now also talked with school
administrators in Chicago and Memphis, Tenn.

"They sing the praises of it," he said. "But it's not something you
just jump into."

If Marquette follows Slaughter's wishes, the Illinois school could
actually leap CBC and become the first school in the area to begin
mandatory drug testing for all students.

CBC Principal David Poos said school leaders no longer want to start
the program next fall. They are still talking with parents and
experts, and going through hundreds of parent surveys collected over
the Internet.

More likely, Poos said, the school will start testing students in the
fall of 2007. There's even some talk, he said, of testing teachers.

School leaders here and elsewhere expected other schools would follow
CBC's lead.

"Once one (school) does it, it makes the decision a lot easier for
other schools," said Brother Chris Englert, principal at Christian
Brothers High School in Memphis.

Englert said 10 Memphis schools adopted programs after his school did
so six years ago. Similar patterns have developed in New Orleans, and
some expect the same in Chicago.

"My gut feeling is you're going to see more and more of this," said
Rudy Presslak, dean at Chicago's St. Patrick High. "Not just St. Louis
or Chicago, but across the country. People are going to be more
proactive in keeping their kids off drugs."

St. Patrick started its drug testing program last year. Although other
schools there haven't followed, Presslak said he's getting a lot of
interest.

Slaughter said a committee is writing a proposal to present to the
school board in April or May. It is largely patterned after the CBC
plan.

The CBC proposal is to select students randomly, clip shoelace-width
hair samples from their heads and send the hair for testing. Roughly
15 students would be chosen each day, starting at the beginning of the
school year. Random testing would begin after each student was sampled.

Tests would screen for marijuana, cocaine, PCP, Ecstasy,
methamphetamine and opiates.

If a student tested positive, he would have 100 days to clean up
before being retested. If he failed again, CBC could ask him to
withdraw. The plan would not put drug results on a student's permanent
record.

CBC officials figure the tests would cost roughly $45 each. Charges
for the first test would be added to the school's tuition. Parents
would pay about $60 for a second test.

Marquette leaders aren't yet sure how closely their plan will follow
CBC's. It's just too early to tell, said board President Ron Motil.

Motil said board members and parents are interested, so far. But he
wants a lot more information before making any decisions. He would
also like to meet with parents, students and faculty members.