ROBERSON TAKES ON STUDENT DRUG USE

ASHEVILLE - Roberson High School Principal George Drake doesn't think enough
is being done to combat illegal drug use by students.

So he's proposing a program for the coming school year to randomly test
students who are involved in athletics and extracurricular activities at the
school.

"I do not believe the students at T.C. Roberson are any more involved in
drug use than any other students in Buncombe County," Drake said. "I just
feel that our kids need another support when encouraged to get involved in
drugs.

"This will give them support. I look at it as a preventive maintenance
tool."

Drake will present his proposal to the Buncombe County Board of Education at
its meeting tonight. Board approval is required for the plan to move
forward. If approved, Roberson would become the first high school in
Buncombe County to test for drugs.

The proposal calls for testing about 25 percent of Roberson's students who
participate in sports and other extracurricular activities. That's about 200
students over the course of the school year, he said.

The tests involve using a swab to obtain a saliva sample from the student's
mouth. Samples would be analyzed at a local laboratory at a cost of $26 to
$28 each, Drake said. He said he hopes to pay for the tests with federal
grant money. Such tests are typically designed to detect the presence of
drugs such as cocaine, marijuana, amphetamines, methamphetamines and opiates
such as heroin.

Students who test positive for drugs once would not be punished if they and
their parents agreed to drug counseling, he said. But a second positive test
would result in disciplinary action.

Phil Shope, who has two children at Roberson, supports the plan. As a
volunteer heavily involved in the school's sports programs, he hears about
drug use among students.

"I think there's a lot of drugs made available both within and outside the
school," Shope said. "We need to make parents aware of how serious the drug
problem is. We need to make the students aware they are going to have to be
held accountable when they use drugs."

Transylvania County Public Schools is considering a drug testing policy for
high school students that may screen for a wide range of illegal drugs. But
Superintendent Sonna Lyda said discussions are in the early stages and that
it would be April or May before a vote comes before the school board.