TASK FORCES TO TACKLE DRUG TESTING

SISKIYOU COUNTY -- Principals at three area high schools are fast at
work forming what the Siskiyou Union High School District hopes will
answer the question: Is student drug testing effective?

At a meeting earlier this month, SUHSD board members decided not to
implement voluntary drug testing for athletes and elected student
body officials.

Instead, the board directed the principals of Mount Shasta, Weed, and
Happy Camp high schools to form separate 12-person task forces
consisting of three parents, three students, two teachers, a school
nurse, an athletic director or coach, a behavioral health instructor
and the principals' themselves.

Their purpose would be to explore the subject of drug testing in
addition to other programs aimed at aiding in the education and
prevention of drug and alcohol abuse.

The board gave the principals until the next board meeting in October
to report on their progress.

"We're all still in the process of forming our teams," said Mount
Shasta High School principal Jim Cox.

Cox said that after he and his staff me to discuss the task force,
two teachers volunteered to take on the challenge.

Similarly, Cox said that MSHS student leadership got together and
elected three students to be a part of the team.

Parent volunteers will be solicited during the school's upcoming
back-to-school night on Thursday, September 7.

"We'll be looking at, if there's drug testing, how will it work?" Cox
said. "And how will it work as one piece of a comprehensive drug
prevention program?"

A major concern of both parents and teachers alike is that, while the
drug testing screens for amphetamines, cocaine, methamphetamines,
opiates, PCP and THC, it does not address the issue of alcohol abuse.

At the board meeting held in early August, Weed High School principal
Mike Matheson said, "Drug testing cannot be what we hang our hat
on... but it's a good next step."

Like Cox, Matheson is also targeting WHS's back-to-school night as a
prime time to recruit volunteers, students and parents alike.

"That's when we'll have a large audience," he said.

Matheson is also interested in getting local law enforcement involved
with the task forces.

Down river, Happy Camp High School principal Ernie Micheli said that
he and his staff are moving forward to identify members of their team.

"We will certainly be participating in the task force," Micheli said.