CHANDLER SCHOOLS' RANDOM DRUG TESTING HAS MODEL TO FOLLOW

The three-year success of Queen Creek High School's random drug
testing program would seem to bode well for a similar program that
will begin in January at three Chandler high schools.

Queen Creek school officials say the school's random drug testing
program, implemented in fall 2002 after two years of study, has lived
up to expectations as a deterrent to student drug use.

Athletic director Tot Workman said the school has not had a single
athlete test positive. Workman said the school, with an enrollment of
1,300, has averaged about 200 tests per year.

Unlike the Chandler Unified School District, which last week announced
plans to randomly test its high school students involved in activities
governed by the Arizona Interscholastic Association, Queen Creek has
had to pay for its own program. The cost has been about $1,600 a year,
Workman said.

The Chandler district has received a three-year award of $718,000 for
random testing from the U.S. Department of Education. The district
expects to test up to 25 percent of eligible students at the three
high schools - a pool estimated at 3,400.

The higher cost for the Chandler program is attributed to external
staffing, a much larger student pool than Queen Creek and the need to
use a federally certified agency for test analysis.

Among the substances for which Chandler will test are alcohol,
amphetamines, marijuana, cocaine, Ecstasy, PCP and anabolic steroids.
Queen Creek's list is similar but included steroids only this year.

The districts also profess a similar reason for testing.

"We weren't trying to catch kids," Workman said. "We thought we should
do it to give kids another way to say no (to drugs)."

Tana DeSpain, the staff nurse at Queen Creek High, said the school
tests students involved in extracurriculars that do not receive a
grade - mostly athletics. Urine samples are collected by DeSpain and
sent to a lab in California, usually the same day. Notification of a
positive test is to occur within 24 hours.

Students are randomly selected by their student number. A positive
test would result in a suspension from extracurriculars for 18 weeks
plus mandatory counseling - at student expense - before retesting.

Chandler's three-strike plan calls for suspensions from AIA activities
of eight weeks and then the entire school year before a permanent ban.
The eight-week suspension can be cut in half by a student's
participation in counseling.

A ruling in June 2002 by the U.S. Supreme Court helped clear the way
for school drug testing, and the U.S. Department of Education awarded
55 such grants this year across the country.

"It's not hard work, it just takes time to do," DeSpain said of the
testing. "It's gone well. I've had no trouble with the students."

Workman said no parents have complained, either. He said he encourages
his coaches to drug-test, too, to set an example for their athletes.

"In my opinion, it's been phenomenal," he said.