MARSHFIELD CONSIDERS EXPANDING STUDENT DRUG TESTS

All Extracurricular Activities May Be Covered Soon.

Giving youth one more reason to say no to drugs is why yet another Ozarks
school district is considering mandatory drug-testing of students in
extracurricular activities.

The Marshfield School Board could vote as early as next month on whether to
require drug tests for high school students.

Although some schools, such as Dallas County R-1, require that athletes
offer urine samples for testing, Marshfield's policy would cover students
in school-sponsored activities from band to sports, Superintendent Mike
Wutke said.

Testing would send a message that taking drugs is wrong and has
consequences, Wutke said.

Because it's random, it would also provide an out for students who are
offered drugs, he added.

"It gives someone a reason to say no other than just saying no."

At least that's the message a study committee at Marshfield has been
echoing from southwest Missouri districts with drug-testing policies in place.

Mike Larson, athletic director and assistant principal at Carl Junction
High School, is one who has been a guest of the committee as it seeks
public comment on the proposed policy.

In Carl Junction, student athletes have been tested for five years, their
names matched to numbers drawn at random. For the past year, all junior
high and high school students in extracurricular activities have been
tested, Larson said.

The original policy came about because coaches suspected that some athletes
were using drugs, he said.

The testing pool expanded to include some 620 students - almost half of
Carl Junction's junior high and high school - after the U.S. Supreme Court
last June approved random drug tests of students involved in competitive
after-school activities or teams. Suspected drug use isn't a prerequisite
for testing.

The schools' interest in ridding campuses of drugs outweighs an
individual's right to privacy, a 5-4 court decided, ruling against an
Oklahoma high school honor student who belonged to the choir and an
academic quiz team. She tested negative for drugs, then sued her school
district.

In Carl Junction, if the district has heard protests, they've come from
parents of athletes who said it was unfair to single out their children for
testing, Larson said.

He told them students in other school-sponsored activities would be tested,
too, as soon as the law allowed it.

"That's why we're testing everybody now, because we made a promise," he said.

If Marshfield approves mandatory drug-testing, it would be among a small
but growing number of Missouri public school districts with such a policy,
said Fred Binggeli, assistant executive director of the Missouri State High
School Activities Association.

The MSHSAA doesn't keep tabs on the number of drug-testing policies in
place, but Binggeli estimated about half a dozen schools from several areas
of the state have contacted the association in the last couple of years to
talk about the issue.

"It does occur in the state," he said. "I just don't think it's widespread
yet."

Yet John Throckmorton, operations manager for Employee Screening Service, a
Springfield company providing testing for schools as well as businesses,
said about 10 districts in the Ozarks test students.

Throckmorton added that he's seen interest increase since the Supreme Court
ruling, too.

"Most of the schools that are discussing that now are schools that have not
done testing in the past, and they're looking to implement a new testing
program," he said.

But with state budget cuts on the horizon, the expense of drug-testing
could be prohibitive, Binggeli said.

That's why it's not an option for some 5,000 students who take part in
Springfield Public Schools extracurricular activities, said Edsel Matthews,
the district's director of athletics and activities.

Philosophically, Matthews doesn't have a problem with drug-testing, he
said, but the price is too high for a district the size of Springfield.

"We have looked into it, but for us to drug-test, it would cost us about
$10,000 a school, and it would be a $50,000 line item," Matthews said.

At Carl Junction, the cost is between $3,000 and $4,000 a year, Larson said.

If Dallas County R-I Superintendent Gary Arthaud could, he'd budget $10,000
to $12,000 a year for hair-strand testing of all students involved in
extracurricular activities.

Now, Buffalo athletes - up to one-third of more than 600 high school
students - randomly undergo urine tests.

Hair-strand tests could reveal prescription drug use, along with the use of
illegal drugs like marijuana. In Buffalo and other Ozarks schools, illicit
use of prescription drugs is the latest problem.

Drug-testing, Arthaud said, "is a safety issue, and it's also for their
long-term health. You know, we want to help (students) while they're young
to keep a straight life."

Administrators acknowledged the limitations of urine tests, however, which
can't provide evidence of a weekend drinking binge, even though alcohol is
still the most widely used drug among teens.

Yet the possibility of not being able to play in a game or a band concert
could give students the motivation to say no to any drugs, administrators
reiterated.

"When you look at the way things are these days, it seems to me that drug
use or alcohol use seems to be more accepted as time goes by, and we need
to try to change that a little bit," Wutke said.