SUMMIT ENCOURAGES DRUG TESTING IN SCHOOLS

The White House Deputy Drug Czar Offers $10 Million in Federal Grants for
Programs at a Regional Meeting Held in Clackamas

CLACKAMAS -- The White House's deputy drug czar visited Oregon on Wednesday
to herald the benefits of student drug testing in schools and talk up $10
million in federal grants that schools can tap this year for testing programs.

Mary Ann Solberg, deputy director of the White House Office of National
Drug Control Policy, spoke to about 60 Northwest school officials and
nonprofit groups in Clackamas. It was one of four "summits" being held
throughout the nation this spring to discuss student drug testing, a
central part of President Bush's national drug-control strategy.

Many schools from New Jersey to Texas test students, but school drug
testing is not catching on in Oregon, a state that has been a legal
battleground for the ethical questions raised by the practice.

School officials from the Portland area who were interviewed Wednesday said
they're not interested, even if there is new federal money available.

"This is a very significant personal rights issue, and I would hope that
where the money comes from and how the money arrives would not be an
issue," said Ron Naso, superintendent of the North Clackamas School District.

Solberg told the school officials that confidential, random drug testing
that doesn't punish students who test positive can be an effective way to
get drug users into treatment and deter other students from trying drugs.

"It is a reason for them to say, 'No, I don't want to use drugs,' " Solberg
said. "It is one strategy in a toolbox of strategies."

David Turner, staff counsel with the Oregon School Boards Association,
estimated that six to eight Oregon districts do random student testing.

In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court broadened the authority of public schools
to do drug tests, saying that schools could test students who participate
in competitive extracurricular activities. Previously, testing was allowed
only for athletes.

Some Portland high schools have invited the Oregon Liquor Control
Commission to administer breath alcohol tests to students suspected of
being intoxicated at school events, but Portland Public Schools does not
conduct random drug or alcohol testing.

Bob Lawrence, a Portland Public Schools spokesman, said in-house drug
testing would require a major policy change.

A handful of schools say they've had great success testing students.

Michael Bremont, a school principal in the Central Linn School District
north of Eugene, said his school gives random tests to students involved in
extracurricular activities.

Bremont, who attended the summit, said he's seen students' attitudes shift
since testing began three years ago.

"It's definitely a deterrent," Bremont said, saying test results showing
drug use are rare.

However, last December, West Linn High School officials suspended a
short-lived practice of giving random breath tests at football games.

Superintendent Roger Woehl of the West Linn-Wilsonville School District
said Wednesday that he does not support random testing and that it was
never the district's intent to institute such a policy.

The district continues to give breath tests when there is reasonable
suspicion that a student is intoxicated.

Woehl hopes that the new federal money for drug testing doesn't distract
schools from looking at their core values.

"It becomes: 'If I have the money, it's the right thing,' rather than
getting into the deeper question of what's the right thing," he said.

Some who oppose drug testing argue that it's not an effective deterrent.
Others have argued in legal cases that the practice is an invasion of privacy.

That argument was tested in Oregon in 1995, when the U.S. Supreme Court
upheld the Vernonia School District's mandatory drug testing for student
athletes. The district continues to test students.

In another case, the Oregon Court of Appeals upheld Oakridge High School's
right to test students. The Oregon Supreme Court declined a request to
review the case.

Oakridge was one of more than a dozen Oregon school districts that
participated in a study of whether mandatory testing deters student drug
use. The federal government gave a $3.6 million grant to Oregon Health &
Science University for the three-year study.

The study spurred a number of additional lawsuits, and a federal research
oversight board halted the study in 2002. The last lawsuit was settled in 2004.