DRUG TESTING FOCUS OF TALK IN SWEDEN

HURON TWP. -- School administrators in Sweden's capital might launch
a controversial program and they are looking to a Downriver
administrator for insight.

School Supt. Thomas Hosler has been hand-picked by the Institute for
Behavioral Health to go to Stockholm to talk about Huron's random
drug-testing program.

The institute, which oversees the testing program in Huron,
recommended that Hosler addresses administrators in Stockholm.

Swedish school officials were looking for someone in the United
States to advise administrators on what it would take to implement
such a program.

Hosler left for the five-day trip yesterday. He is the only
administrator from the United States asked to attend a workshop on
random drug testing.

The only other representative from the United States is an attorney
from New Jersey. He will discuss the legal aspects of the program.

Administrators from other countries will be in attendance. Huron,
along with schools in Indiana, Alabama and Idaho, are part of the
same random drug-testing program, which is funded through a grant
from the U.S. Department of Education.

Testing began in this district of more than 2,000 students in the
spring of 2002. Each year since then, Hosler and Rick Dorn, athletic
director, travel to Washington, D.C., to report on Huron's program.

It has given Hosler national exposure.

Huron is one of two school districts in the state that randomly
tests its athletes and students in extracurricular activities for drugs.

Administrators here believe the program has worked remarkably well.

"I think more and more districts are interested in the program in
Michigan," Hosler said. "Before, there wasn't much of a dialogue
about it. It's being talked about in their communities.

"Funding is the issue. Districts are leery about bringing a program
on board that is new and controversial. This just isn't the
(economical) climate for it now. That is what I'm hearing. But, you
can't overlook the benefits."

When the program was introduced in Huron, it was done as a way to
give students a tool to say "no" to drugs and alcohol.

The superintendent said school officials in Sweden are seeing the
harmful effects of drugs with their students, so they are looking
for a way to combat that.

Resistance to Huron's testing program never reached the level some
anticipated.

"There was some noise initially, but the opposition hasn't been
huge," Hosler said. "I credit that to the Board of Education and the
way they went about getting community input."

The superintendent also gives a good deal of credit to Dorn, who put
the policy for the program together. He said no one was caught
off-guard when the testing began.

Hosler's flight and lodging is being paid for by Swedish school officials.

Before departing, the superintendent admitted that he was somewhat nervous.

Being probed about the drug-testing program and all of its
components and serving as the sole administrator from the United
States is not what has Hosler on edge.

"That's the easy part," he said. "I'm a little nervous about flying."