DURHAM SCHOOLS LOOK AT DRUG TESTS FOR ALL STUDENTS

DURHAM -- It started out as an attempt to keep athletes on the chemical
strait and narrow, but a proposed drug and alcohol testing policy may even
have members of the Durham High School band and chess club peeing in a bottle.

For months the Durham Unified School District board of trustees have been
pondering revisions to the district's existing drug and alcohol policy as
it pertains to high school athletes.

Wednesday Durham High Principal Paul Arnold came before the regular
trustees' meeting with a proposal that further defines possible sanctions
for athletes found to be using drugs or alcohol, and random testing of the
athletes.

However, newly appointed Trustee Bruce Book asked whether such a policy
should be focused only on student athletes.

"I don't know why it always gets to be sports that you try out all of this
on when all of the other (extracurricular activity) is just as much an
elective as sports is ... They are just as likely to abuse this as any
other student," said Book.

DUSD Superintendent Penny Chennell said she wants to see all of the
potential kinks worked out of a policy and nail down what in this case drug
and alcohol testing will cost. Doing that on a limited scale, for example
just among athletes, is a good way to have it in good order before it expands.

"To be honest with you," said Book, "I just think it is terribly
discriminatory to say that we are only going to do this, and maybe we are
going to expand policy to something else later on."

Speaking directly to Chennell, Book said, "I understand your concern about
wanting to test something, but either it's good enough to do for everybody,
or it is not good enough for anybody."

Arnold said, as part of his research on a potential drug testing policy, he
discovered the Colusa school district had one in place that might address
Book's concerns.

"In the Colusa model, they go into music programs, leadership, clubs,
cocurricular clubs, FFA, and they actually go into elective programs where
kids are using power tools. If you are under the influence of drugs or
alcohol and you are using power tools, that's a safety issue," explained
Arnold.

The principal also said Book was by no means the first to raise the idea of
broader testing.

"There are groups that I have spoken to who have said, Why athletes? Let's
expand it out as far as we can expand it'," he said.

Board Chairman Greg Sohnrey said there is no reason an expanded pool of
candidates for random testing should, by itself, increase the cost of the
actual testing.

"I would think if you were adding just a few names from these other
activities, it's not that much harder to add just a few names to the random
selection ... That child still has the threat that they are going to be
possibly picked.

"Whether it is five kids being selected or 10 kids being selected, there is
that threat over their heads. So, I don't think it is going to cost us any
more," he continued.

Sohnrey polled the other members of the board and there was apparent
consensus that the trustees want to explore the "Colusa model."

The board asked Arnold to come back at some later meeting with a proposal
covering all extracurricular groups, beyond sports.

However, the superintendent wanted to toss one more thought into the
discussion.

"There is one thing I would like you to think about. As we have
administered this policy I don't believe we have ever drug tested a middle
school student," said Chennell.

"As we have talked about this, all the time we are fixating on the high
schools. I'm just asking myself, when we are conceptualizing the policy
language, do we ever consider as a district that perhaps some testing may
start in the lower grades? " she asked.

THE BACKGROUND: The Durham Unified School District trustees have been
reviewing the system's policy on random drug and alcohol testing for
student athletes, as well as appropriate sanctions for those found dirty.

WHAT'S NEW: Trustees have asked for a random testing policy that would
cover all extra-curricular activities such as band, clubs, student
government and not merely athletes.

WHAT'S NEXT: The district will be reviewing a winder proposal and the
district superintendent has asked if the testing should extended into the
intermediate school as well.