CELINA SCHOOLS TO START DRUG-TESTING ATHLETES

District Will Be One Of A Few In The Area To Administer Checks

Coach Bill Elliott has been known to cruise Celina on weekend nights,
searching for field parties and high school athletes who might be straying
from the rules.

Few go unnoticed. "This is a small town, a small community," said Mr.
Elliott, who oversees boys' athletics at Celina High School.

The athletic code prohibits profanity and sets a midnight curfew. Boys
can't wear earrings. Their hair must be short. All athletes must get good
grades. And starting in the fall, all athletes in grades seven through 12
will be required to get tested for drugs.

"We felt like we wanted to take a stand against drugs," said school
district athletic director Butch Ford, whose department has kicked around
the idea of mandatory drug testing for years. The Celina school board
approved the plan at its last meeting in March.

Celina will become one of a few school districts in the Dallas area that
drug-test students enrolled in sports.

Several area districts, including Plano, McKinney, Irving, Garland,
Coppell, Carrollton-Farmers Branch, Richardson and Arlington, don't
administer random or mandatory drug tests. A few do, including Mesquite and
Rockwall. While Celina's policy will start with students who compete in
athletics, the measure might be expanded to students involved in all
extracurricular activities, said school board president Keith Scott.
"Celina is doing all we can to hold on to the old, traditional values of
small town - church, school, community and so forth," Mr. Scott said.
"We're doing all we can to keep our hands around that."

Coaches said the greatest benefit will be that students will have an excuse
to say no to drugs. They can blame the test.

Even though Celina might be a small town, it's getting bigger. Influences
of not-so-small towns are creeping in, Mr. Ford said.

While all communities have their share of drug problems, students in Celina
are exposed to more these days, Mr. Elliott said. "We're getting a lot of
kids moving in from Plano, Frisco," he said.

Mr. Scott said no incident led to the decision. "There's a difference
between a concern and a problem," he said. "It's not being implemented
because there's some secret problem. It's being implemented because drugs
are so prevalent now."

Supreme Court The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that drug testing for
students who take part in athletics is constitutional. In June, it extended
that ruling to include students in extracurricular activities.

Celina athletes will be tested at the beginning of the school year. In the
months that follow, 10 percent will be selected randomly to be tested
again. The district will pay Ron Bolton, who owns Ron's 24-hour Mobile Drug
and Alcohol Testing, $15 for each test.

Mr. Ford estimated the cost next year to be about $10,000. Students who are
found to be on drugs will go through drug education, and those who are
repeat offenders face suspension from participation in extracurricular
activities.

Mr. Bolton, who has been in the business of administering drug tests since
1996, said he works with about a dozen school districts in Collin, Grayson
and Hunt counties, including Princeton, Farmersville, Van Alstyne, Tom
Bean, Bland and Blue Ridge. He doesn't advertise and picks up much of his
business with schools through word-of-mouth, which is how Mr. Ford found
him. No records Eddie Joseph, executive director of the Texas High School
Coaches' Association, said no one keeps track of which districts drug-test
students. He said school boards often adopt the policy then discontinue it
when few students are found to be on drugs.

"I think the biggest problem we have in athletics are steroids more than
recreational drugs," he said. "I think you can test athletes all you want,
but I think they're probably less susceptible to be using drugs" than the
average student.

Mr. Bolton said most schools do not elect to regularly test for steroids
but instead test for 10 recreational drugs including cocaine and marijuana.
The steroid test is more expensive. Mr. Ford said recreational drug use was
the reason for testing in Celina.

The Supreme Court ruling sparked controversy throughout the country,
especially among privacy advocates. In Celina, where sports - especially
football - are key, no one has spoken against the decision, said Mr. Scott,
the school board president.

"I think they'll strongly support it because I think it serves as a tool to
retain traditional values," he said.

Student support Several student athletes in Celina said they support the
decision. "It doesn't bother me at all. I know I'm clean," said basketball
and track athlete Andrea Franklin, 16.

Teammate Lauren Fleming, 16, said drugs are easy to find. "It's high
school," she said.

But known drug users on sports teams are harder to come by. The only
students who would be upset by the decision are probably the ones on drugs,
the girls said.

"When it comes down to it, it might scare them out of doing it," Lauren
said. Football players Andy May and Jacob Martin, both 17, said the
decision is a natural extension of the philosophy among coaches.

"They don't want people to ruin their lives," Jacob said. Andy said Mr.
Ford has made it clear that he has never taken a drink in his life. Mr.
Ford acknowledged that wasn't quite true.

"I tried to swallow champagne one time, but I thought it tasted like
gasoline," he said.

Mr. Ford said he believes in practicing what he preaches. Andy's mother,
Kimberly May, said the district's coaches have acted as father figures to
each of her three sons.

"They fear their coaches more than they fear me," she said. Athletes who
get busted at beer parties, for example, are forced to put in 20 miles of
running before participating again.

"In Celina, the coaches sit on them pretty good," Ms. May said. She said
she is seeing the influx of newcomers to the city and believes the testing
is a good way to "stop a problem before it starts." But Ms. May doesn't
think the athletes are the students who need to be singled out for testing.

"The majority of the students in this area that are into drugs are not the
athletes," she said.

. Celina has about 350 athletes in grades seven through 12. They will be
tested at the beginning of the next school year for the presence of alcohol
and drugs. . Random testing will be done throughout the school year.
Students who are suspected of using drugs may be tested again.

. Parental consent for testing will be required for participation in the
athletic program.

. First offense: The student will meet with the athletic director, the drug
testing administrator and boys' or girls' coordinator. The student will be
required to complete a drug education program. He or she can practice but
can't compete until requirements are fulfilled. Must pass drug test. .
Second offense: Besides the above requirements, the student will be
suspended from the team for 30 days and must pass a test before playing. .
Third offense: Above requirements plus suspension from the team for 90
days. Staff writers Eric Aasen, Herb Booth, Kristen Holland, Kristine
Hughes, Bill Lodge, Jeff Mosier, Lori Price and Toya Lynn Stewart
contributed to this report.