DRUG TESTING

Students Question Policy Draft

De Soto High School senior Jessica Pennington Tuesday night gave a
word of warning to the committee studying a random drug testing
policy for De Soto USD 232.

"If you asked us if we would stop participating in activities if
this policy were in place the answer is yes," she said. "It's not
that we feel we have anything to hide. If you did present me with
this option I honestly feel I would turn my stuff in right now."

Pennington is the Student Council vice president and made the threat
with other student leaders including the senior class president and
members of the band and debate team at the committee's community
forum at De Soto High. Another forum took place Wednesday night at
Mill Valley High School.

The Board of Education last year appointed the committee to
investigate a possible policy that would call for random drug
testing of all students involved in extracurricular activities in
seventh through 12th grades. The committee last reported to the
school board in June when it was directed to do more research into
a possible policy and to get community feedback on the issue.

The committee stressed at the beginning of the meeting that the
policy was not currently in place, nor had a proposal yet been given
to the school board.

De Soto High Principal Dave Morford said the purpose of the meeting
was to get more feedback so the committee could fine-tune what its
eventual proposal would be to the school board. A proposal could
come as soon as next spring, Morford said.

Several students and some parents showed up to speak out for and
against random drug testing.

Wrong students tested?

One large criticism was that only students in extracurricular
activities would be tested.

Parent Debbie Hoover of De Soto said in her experience the students
in extra-curricular activities are not the students with the drug problem.

"I am a firm believer that if a child is an athlete he obviously has
to carry good grades, and he's too busy to do drugs," she said. "I
think you're targeting the wrong group. They are not sitting at home
playing Xbox saying Let's sit back and smoke a joint.'"

The committee has a draft of a policy that is modeled after policies
already in place in Oak Grove, Mo., and El Dorado, Kan. The draft
defines an extracurricular activity as a competitive or
noncompetitive sports team or club. School sponsored events such as
dances also would be included.

Parent Daling McMoran, who also works for poison control, questioned
why the committee couldn't test all students with such a policy.

"I'm not opposed to random drug testing in schools," he said. "I
kind of have a problem just focusing on activities though. I feel
like you're almost saying We're going to go after you guys and not
focus on the ones that are maybe doing it in schools.'"

Morford explained that random drug testing only could be performed
on students involved in extracurricular activities because of a U.S.
Supreme Court ruling.

One student asked the committee if students enrolled in debate or
madrigals class who did not compete would be required to be tested as well.

Morford said the policy only would apply to those students who were
competing and doing extra things for the group outside of the class.

Alternatives and cost

When researching random drug testing for the committee, Morford said
the subject is black or white as far as supporters and opponents are
concerned.

"It's kind of for or against," Morford said. "The question that
haunted me throughout when people are critical of looking at drug
testing is OK, what are the alternatives?'"

Some of the alternatives Morford found included engaging students in
after school activities, providing counseling, allowing students
access to trained health care professionals, encouraging parents to
become better informed and cultivating trust and responsibility
between students and adults.

However, he said the district already is actively participating in
these alternatives and that the idea behind the policy is to give
students another way to say no to drugs.

The committee's largest obstacle is determining how to fund drug
testing. Depending on the test it could cost from $15 to $30 per
student, Morford said. The committee is looking into getting federal
funding through grants to help pay for the cost.

How it would work

Junior Josh Stanley said he was concerned about the randomness of the testing.

"How do you define random?" he asked the committee.

Morford said all students before participating activities would have
to complete a form consenting to being randomly drug tested. All
students in activities would then be placed in one pool of names.
Those names would be sent to an outside company that would be
responsible for randomly selected and then testing students.

Morford said the committee was looking into testing about 10 percent
of the pool of students bi-weekly. He said the committee had not yet
looked into how often the pool of students would be updated to
accommodate those who do not participate in activities year-round.

Some students questioned which drugs the testing would detect and
whether it would be tested through urine or blood.

De Soto High and Lexington Trails Middle School activities director
Steve Deghand said the tests would use urine samples and could be
tested for more than one drug at a time. Steroid testing is not
included in the policy because of the cost, Deghand said.

Defining the district's intent

Senior Lindsay Grantham said she was concerned drug testing would
provoke students to use harder drugs that exit a person's system quickly.

"Marijuana stays in your system longer than cocaine and ecstasy," she said.

However Deghand said that wasn't the committee's purpose behind the testing.

"Our intent isn't to have students do harder drugs at all," he said.

Another concern was the consequences for students who test positive
for drugs. Morford said the committee was looking into keeping the
district's current zero tolerance policy in place, in which students
have different consequences depending on the number of offenses
they have had. The committee also is considering limiting those
consequences if a student participates in a rehabilitation program.

"We want to stress that the idea behind this whole thing is not
punitive," he said. "I don't think drug testing is necessarily a
magic bullet that is going to make drug problems go away."

Grantham said despite what Morford said about drug testing being a
way to protect students and prevent drug use, it didn't feel that
way to students.

"I more get the message that this isn't really a compassion type
thing," she said. "It kind of gives more of a suspicious vibe. It
seems almost kind of insulting as a student."