LAKE WORTH SCHOOL DISTRICTS TURNING TO DRUG TESTING

LAKE WORTH -- Lake Worth High School Principal Joel Lawson was worried
about drugs on campus long before a student entered his office in tears
last year.

"She had some dealings with drugs in school, and the person supplying her
with drugs no longer wanted her money, but sexual favors," Lawson said.

Her anguish only strengthened his belief that the northwest Tarrant County
district needed to take drastic measures to stop students' drug use.

He and school officials got an additional jolt last spring when a Texas A&M
University study determined that as many as 27.8 percent of 250 seventh-
and eighth-graders surveyed in the district had tried marijuana and that
4.2 percent had tried heroin.

This year, Lake Worth joined a small but growing number of school districts
across the nation that are adding student drug testing to their arsenal in
the battle against drugs.

Regionally, Azle and Cleburne schools set precedents in Texas more than two
years ago when they initiated mandatory drug testing for those in high
school extracurricular activities. Lake Worth is joining the Birdville,
Grand Prairie, and Glen Rose districts with voluntary drug testing programs
in middle and high schools.

School officials with drug-testing operations strongly believe that the
programs help, but finding statistics to confirm their beliefs is problematic.

In districts where drug exams are mandatory for students involved in
extracurricular activities, officials cite no drop in participation since
the tests began. And, officials add, few students randomly chosen for drug
exams have tested positive.

In Cleburne, about 60 percent of the 1,475 students in the high school
participate in extracurricular activities. Since the drug program began in
1996, fewer than 1 percent -- 0.25 -- of the students examined showed signs
of drug use. Only a handful of middle and high school students have tested
positive in Grand Prairie's voluntary program.

In Azle, about 62 percent of the district's 1,600 high school students and
about 50 percent of its 1,000 junior high students agreed to random drug
testing so they can participate in school activities. In 569 random tests
last school year, 11 students -- or fewer than 2 percent -- tested
positive, school officials said.

Students are ejected from activities only after failing a second drug test.
Retired Azle High Principal Rouel Rothenberger said the program can be
considered effective because the district has never expelled a high school
student from an extracurricular activity because of drug use.

"A couple of the kids quit [ extracurricular activities] voluntarily,"
Rothenberger said. "I guess they had a problem and did not want to take the
chance of getting caught."

Deborah Hinckley, a mother of six whose daughter participated in drug
testing last year in Azle, said the district has a right to make drug
testing a prerequisite for participation in activities.

"Just as there is a dress code at school and they don't have a right to
dress in whatever they choose or go to school naked, they don't have a
right to protest testing," Hinckley said.

Her daughter, Katie, now a Baylor University student, agreed: "I think it
should be mandatory. You have no business playing sports and participating
in things if you are messed up or doing something that is illegal."

Not everyone accepts that drug testing -- even in a voluntary program -- is
needed.

Lake Worth student Nickolas Peterson, 17, said he was tested for drugs when
he worked at a fast-food restaurant but will not participate in the school
program.

"I think it is an invasion of a student's privacy," Peterson said. The
American Civil Liberties Union has also said most drug-testing programs are
an invasion of privacy. The ACLU has backed two lawsuits filed by Texas
students against districts because of their drug- testing programs.

ACLU Regional Director Diana Philip said voluntary programs reward students
for giving up their privacy, and mandatory programs punish them for not
doing so by excluding them from extracurricular activities.

In Lake Worth, like Glen Rose, students who pass drug tests get cards that
give them discounts at area stores. If they fail drug tests, only the
students and their parents are informed, and the families are offered
counseling.

In Lake Worth, the Safe and Drug Free School and Community advisory
committee is overseeing formation of a comprehensive drug program that
includes education for students and teachers, use of a drug-sniffing dog at
the junior high and high schools and a full-time police officer for the
schools.

Larry Biggers, a parent and advisory board member, has urged Lake Worth
school officials to make drug testing mandatory. Senior Cathy Rodriguez,
17, who has a brother in eighth grade, agreed.

"I do not want to see my brother around drugs", Rodriguez said.

School officials said they are willing to look at a stronger program. But
"we would like to give the voluntary program an opportunity to work," said
Janice Cooper, Lake Worth's interim superintendent.

About 300 students, or 35 percent of those eligible for the program, have
signed up and been tested in Lake Worth, said Trey Lackey, coordinator of
intervention services at Lake Worth.

In Glen Rose, participation in the school district's voluntary program
increased from about 30 percent when it started in 1989 to more than 80
percent last year, school officials said.

Since Grand Prairie started its voluntary program in 1991, the number of
student participants has increased from about 500 to more than 3,000, said
police Sgt. Bill Erter, who oversees the program.

State officials say they believe that the number of schools with drug
testing programs is small. A recent survey indicated that 152 districts out
of 1,059 statewide had requested funding from the federal Safe and Drug
Free Schools program for testing. However, not all districts with
drug-testing programs seek federal money, Texas Education Agency officials
said.

For larger school districts, drug testing is very expensive. Neither Dallas
nor Fort Worth schools have included testing in their drug-fighting programs.

Despite U.S. Supreme Court rulings in recent years upholding school
districts' right to test students for drugs, some have hesitated to get
involved because of the potential for a legal tangle.

Even with strong community backing last school year, the
Grapevine-Colleyville school district chose not to include drug testing in
a comprehensive drug prevention program because of concerns about potential
lawsuits.

But Cooper of Lake Worth said: "Sometimes you have to be willing to stick
your neck out, willing to risk a lawsuit because you feel it is important
enough for children. It is not a cure-all. I don't want to drive students
away with this."

Checked-by: Richard Lake