MORE ROCKWALL STUDENTS WILL BE TESTED FOR DRUGS

Cheerleaders, drill teams added to athletic groups being screened

Rockwall has become one of the few area school districts to take advantage
of a June 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision giving administrators greater
authority to test students for drugs.

Starting this fall, all cheerleaders and drill team members in grades nine
through 12 will be subject to random testing for alcohol and a half-dozen
recreational drugs. It is the first expansion of the district's 1-year-old
drug-testing program for athletes.

"We have every expectation that we will continue to expand this program,"
said Superintendent Gene Burton. "We'll phase in all the extracurricular and
co-curricular students."

Rockwall's decision to start its program came after the Supreme Court ruled
that mandatory drug testing was allowed not only for athletes - as the
justices decided in the mid-1990s - but also for any student participating
in extracurricular activities.