SHORE SCHOOLS IN FAVOR OF DRUG-TESTING PROGRAM

On Monday, acting Gov. Richard J. Codey signed legislation setting
guidelines for schools that want to adopt drug-testing programs. By
Tuesday, the law had already found vocal support among educators,
administrators and coaches around Monmouth and Ocean County.

The new legislation will give more legal protection to schools that test
students involved in after school sports programs, extracurricular
activities or for those who want parking permits, said Jason Butkowski,
spokesman for the state Senate Democrats.

While the law will make it possible to test for drugs such as marijuana,
Southern Regional athletic director Kim DeGraw-Cole feels that rising
awareness of steroid use at the high school level was a driving force in
the establishment of this law.

DeGraw-Cole serves on a steroid task force made up of high school and
college administrators, medical experts and members of the sports media
that was assembled by Codey in July.

"We had athletes that gave presentations. It was surprising to me that some
of the athletes said that kids they went to school (college) with were
definitely using steroids right away in their first year," said
DeGraw-Cole. "These are kids that came from our high schools."

"I think it's a sign of our times and the environment right now," said
Chris Barnes, football coach at Wall. "If you're following what's going on
in professional sports, that's created an air of concern which is legitimate."

While according to Frank Belluscio, spokesman for the New Jersey School
Boards Association, at least 12 districts are known to already have random
drug testing programs in place, DeGraw-Cole, for one, feels the new law
helps districts avoid the negative reaction that can come from trying to
introduce such measures on their own. "You take a hit if you try to do
something like this locally," DeGraw-Cole said. "So I'm glad to see the
state doing it, giving us what we need to do right by the athlete."

"It's certainly going to give schools a lot of latitude to test for
steroids and performance enhancers," said Michael Ritacco, superintendent
of Toms River schools. "It would give a green light for schools to go ahead
and try to set some policy that will try to safeguard our students from
this kind of dangerous behavior."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.