EDUCATORS DIFFER ON MERITS OF RANDOM STUDENT DRUG TESTING

Educators from across the region turned out Tuesday to hear the White
House's deputy drug czar discuss the latest research supporting random
student drug testing.

In addition to addressing the legal issues behind drug testing, the meeting
provided information on $10 million in federal grants available for such
programs.

"We know from countless studies that any time drug use in a school building
goes up, performance on standardized tests goes down," said Mary Ann
Solberg, deputy director of National Drug Control Policy. "This is to help
kids - to allow kids to grow up healthy and drug-free."

The message found favor with educators like Monica Stewart, principal of
the St. Charles Success Campus, an alternative high school serving students
with drug abuse, truancy or behavior problems.

"Coming to school under the influence of drugs or alcohol is bold," Stewart
said. "If students had the fear that the school might do a drug test that
day, it might help with the situation."

Also at Tuesday's meeting were members of Students for Sensible Drug
Policy, a group that opposes mandatory drug testing for students.

Sam Barclay, president of Washington University's chapter, said he hadn't
heard much to convince him that random testing deters drug use. Barclay
cited a 2003 study from the University of Michigan that found "no
statistically significant difference" in drug use between schools with
drug-testing programs and those without.

Joseph McKinney, an education professor at Ball State University and a
presenter Tuesday, called the Michigan study flawed because it lumped
together all drug testing, whether voluntary, random or based on suspicion
of drug use.

This spring, McKinney surveyed 54 Indiana schools with random drug testing
and found that 41 percent of them reported a decrease in positive drug
results since 2002; 56 percent reported no change.

A handful of local schools test students for drugs or have done so in the
past few years. The St. Clair School District in Franklin County started
its random testing program this year after nearly two years of discussion
with parents, teachers and administrators, said Superintendent Michael D.
Murphy. The new policy requires any junior high or high school student
involved in an extracurricular activity to submit to a drug test if his or
her name is randomly chosen. Tests are done about once a month. So far, no
student has tested positive.

"Our goal is ultimately not to catch a lot of people as it is to create a
higher level of drug awareness," Murphy said.

More common is a voluntary drug testing program for student athletes, such
as in the Pattonville School District.

Terry Funderburk, activities director for Pattonville High School, sees the
program as a way to deter students from peer pressure. He'd like to see it
become mandatory.

"It is a privilege to take part in extracurricular activities, not a
right," Funderburk said.

Other districts have not taken up the issue.

Hillsboro Superintendent Shelton Smith said his district could better use
federal grants for "keeping class sizes down or hiring more teachers."

O'Fallon, Ill., High School Principal Steve Dirnbeck sent an administrator
to Tuesday's seminar to gather information but said his school was not
ready to test athletes.

A former coach, Dirnbeck worries about the effect of testing.

"You develop a relationship and a trust," he said. "I don't want to be the
one acting suspicious, as though we're saying, if you're an athlete, we
think you're using."

Alexa Aguilar, Carolyn Bower and Robert Kelly of the Post-Dispatch
contributed to this report.