DUBLIN MIGHT START TESTING STUDENT ATHLETES FOR DRUGS

The Dublin school district could become the latest in a handful of
central Ohio systems to test its athletes for drugs.

The school board is expected to vote on a new policy next
Monday.

Board members and many parents see the benefit: to encourage students
to say no when offered drinks or drugs.

Janiece Gibbs, a softball player at Dublin Coffman High School, said
she knows that students drink and use drugs.

The prospect of testing probably "scares some people,'' she said, "but
it keeps the community aware of what's going on.''

Nationally, the issue has stirred up opposing legal opinions about
liability and student rights.

"Suppose there's a mistake made,'' said Benson Wolman, a Columbus
lawyer and member of the American Civil Liberties Union national
advisory council.

"People submit to tests of all different kinds. It may be that there
are false positives.

"Schools are going to end up being liable for damages for those kinds
of situations, even though they may have had people sign off, waiving
any kind of rights.''

Steve Donahue, an assistant superintendent in the Dublin district,
said school officials checked out policies in other central Ohio
systems. Drug testing is being done in Pickerington; Fairfield Union
in Fairfield County; Olentangy in Delaware County; Logan Elm in
Pickaway County; Marysville in Union County; and London in Madison
County.

Some, such as Fairfield Union, test only a random selection of
athletes during a sport's season. But in most, athletes take a urine
test before their seasons start, and random testing is done among all
athletes during the school year.

"You are not sure when you are going to get called'' for testing, said
senior Robert McDavid, a football player at Pickerington High School.
"Usually, you get called on Saturday night to come in Sunday morning.''

His mother, Julie McDavid, said she likes the testing.

"I think it does make the kids think a little bit,'' she said. "I'd
like to see them test a lot more than they do. If you're going to play
sports, you're supposed to be drug-, tobacco- and alcohol-free.''

The Dublin proposal calls for testing athletes in grades nine through
12. The charge would be $25, Donahue said.

In most districts that test, parents pick up the tab for the first
test. Costs range from $18 to $60 per test, depending on the lab and
the substances being tested.

Costs to school districts for the random testing range from $7,000 to
$30,000 a year.

The tests screen for a variety of drugs. Pickerington, for example,
has tested for amphetamines, opiates, PCP, barbiturates, marijuana,
cocaine and alcohol.

Logan Elm's test screens for marijuana, alcohol, barbiturates, LSD,
amphetamines, nicotine and cocaine, said Dan Bise, the high school
athletic director.

London routinely screens for alcohol, nicotine and marijuana, but the
lab often adds tests for cocaine and amphetamines, based on trends
among juveniles tested through the local courts, said Terry Nance,
athletic director at London High School.

Dublin administrators haven't yet decided what to test for, Donahue
said.

But the procedure would be similar to that in other districts: If a
student tests positive, the sample would be retested by the lab. If
the result doesn't change, the student would have a chance to take a
second test. Those who flunk again, or who flunk in the random round
of sampling later, would have to sit out 20 percent of their games or
events or perform community service.

"I like the general idea of it,'' said Dublin school board member
Laurie Weber. "Last year at graduation, we had to sober up two kids.''

Dublin board President Julie Best said the proposed test would be
"definitive . . . not subjective.'' A previous policy punished all
students who were around when drugs or alcohol were being used.

Parents and students complained about that policy, and the board
revoked it, Best said.

Board member Mark Holderman does not favor the proposal.

"It's a right-to-privacy issue for me,'' he said. "It also segregates
some of the students and treats them differently. They don't test
students in (other) extracurriculars.''

That argument has been given in federal courts around the
country.

The ACLU has been challenging school drug-testing policies on the
grounds that they violate personal rights and create a culture of fear
and suspicion.

"It's a due-process issue,'' said Chris Link, executive director of
the ACLU of Ohio.

"If we think about it as something that innocent people should be
concerned about, accusations of wrongdoing need to be based on
reasonable suspicion.''

In cases over the past five years, federal appeals courts have upheld
school policies that require tests for students in all extracurricular
activities.

The U.S. Supreme Court so far has heard cases only about athlete
testing, and so far has upheld the practice, ruling that random drug
tests for student athletes do not violate the Constitution's Fourth
Amendment protection against unreasonable searches.

Some districts have considered testing but backed away. In
Westerville, the school board thought it unfairly singled out
athletes, member Nancy Nestor-Baker said.

"You can look at it negatively and say they (athletes) do a lot of
drugs,'' she said. "We weren't sure doing that sent the right message.''

Canal Winchester and Groveport Madison officials are thinking about
drug testing.

"I have a major problem testing athletes,'' said Rich Playko,
Groveport's assistant superintendent for pupil personnel. "If you're
looking at drug abuse, you have a heck of a lot more abuse in the
larger population of the school district than in your extracurricular
activities.''

The Supreme Court has acknowledged that peer pressure often plays a
role in drug use and has said that testing could help deter drug use
nationally.

The point, Donahue said, is to keep students from using drugs in the
first place. Besides, he said, sports involve physical risk.

"They're on an athletic field where they could be injured,'' he
said.

Rick Dickinson, general counsel for the Ohio School Boards
Association, said he advises board members that testing athletes
probably is not going to be successfully challenged in court because
of the belief that impairment could lead to injury.

"Athletes are subject to vigorous physical activity, and any
impairment because of drug use would be dangerous,'' he said. "It's a
much bigger jump to say a kid on the chess team is at risk compared
with a kid on the football team.''

Some observers, including the ACLU, have questioned whether the tests
prevent teens from using drugs. Instead of threatening students, the
ACLU contends, districts should provide more opportunities for
involvement in extracurricular activities that build
self-esteem.

But coaches say the system must be working, because they haven't found
many students testing positive for drugs.

Pickerington football coach Jack Johnson could recall only a few
positive tests since the program began in fall 1997.

Since 1996, Nance said, he has found only a handful of students who
were using -- mostly tobacco and marijuana. And, he said, "over the
past four years it has declined considerably. People know what the
expectations are.''