BENEDICTINE TO TEST FOR DRUGS

Random Screening Of Students, Faculty

Benedictine High School will give random drug tests to its students, faculty
and staff members starting this fall.

School officials said yesterday that the private, all-male Catholic military
school does not have a drug problem. Instead, they believe the program will
deter future drug use among students.

"We believe that a random drug testing program will help our cadets make
reasonable choices regarding drug use, arming them with a solid excuse to
resist peer pressure and say 'no' to drugs," said the Rev. Adrian Harmening,
who became Benedictine's headmaster for the second time when school
officials fired David A. Bouton, a retired Army colonel, five days into the
start of this academic year.

Yesterday's announcement makes Benedictine the first independent day school
in the state to establish a mandatory drug screening policy for students,
according to the Virginia Association of Independent Schools.

Among Virginia public school systems, Lynchburg is the only one with a
random drug screening program for students, according to the Virginia
Department of Education. The policy applies only to student athletes and has
been in place for several years, said Arlene Cundiff, coordinator for the
Safe and Drug Free Schools program.

There are no state guidelines related to student drug screens, she said, and
all decisions concerning such programs are made at the local level. The
Education Department, however, says it will provide local school boards with
information to help them develop policies that do not violate student
rights.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that schools can perform random drug tests
on student athletes, Cundiff said.

Students in Richmond, Chesterfield, Henrico and Hanover schools are not
subject to random drug tests. In Chesterfield, though, a student may be
required to submit to a drug screening if school officials have reasonable
suspicion that the student is under the influence of drugs. School resource
officers in Hanover can use breathalyzers if they suspect a student is under
the influence; however, the system does not require students to submit to
urine tests.

Benedictine's board of trustees first considered random drug testing about
two years ago, after Harmening -- who was in another position at the time --
asked to expand the school's substance abuse program, said Philip J. Bagley
III, board president. Students currently receive instruction on substance
abuse through their religion and military classes.

School officials said they spent eight months studying the issue and
consulting with boarding schools about their policies. The board unanimously
approved the policy last July. The drug tests will start in August and will
screen for cocaine, marijuana, opiates such as heroin, amphetamines and
phencyclidine (PCP). All test results will remain confidential.

The drug tests will take place one day a month, Harmening said. Trident
National Corp., a Richmond-based drug screening management firm, will use a
lottery to select a percentage of the 267 students and 46 faculty and staff
members. The company will collect urine specimens from the students and
staff, and send them to LabCorp of America in North Carolina for testing.

Trident provides testing for 350 local businesses and screens school bus
drivers in 35 school systems statewide. This is the first time Trident has
provided its services for testing students, said John Vellines, the company
president.

Positive test results will be analyzed twice by the lab, Vellines said. If a
student's specimen reveals drug use, Trident's medical review officer will
contact Benedictine's counselor and speak with the student to determine
whether prescription medication caused the positive result, Vellines said.
If the doctor determines the screening is positive for illegal drugs, the
school counselor will have the student call his parents.

A student with a true positive result will be placed on probation. That
student also must enroll in a drug treatment program and submit to a drug
test each month for the remainder of his time at Benedictine. If the student
tests positive for drugs a second time, he will be expelled from the school.

Faculty and staff members who test positive for illegal drugs will be
dismissed, Harmening said.

"Our faculty should be models," he said.

Harmening, who first was headmaster for 22 years before moving to other
positions in 1984, said he has received little opposition to the new policy.
Students also seem to support it.

"I feel it should be implemented," said sophomore Nick Cornwell.
"Benedictine is a school of high academic learning and for drugs to be in
any school is ridiculous. . . . We can't say 100 percent positive that there
aren't drugs in our school, but you can't say that about any school."

Junior Barry Gooden agreed.

"I believe it's a good program," he said. "We don't have a drug problem at
our school, but we are part of society and drug use is growing and we don't
need that at our school."