DRUG TEST ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED

SISKIYOU COUNTY -- The random drug testing proposed by Cox and
Matheson are one possible solution to the problem of teen age drug
abuse. But there are alternatives, according to Siskiyou Union High
School District superintendent Dick Holmes.

"What may be an agreeable outcome is to put together a task force
studying drug testing and exploring alternatives," Holmes said. "But
the bottom line is: how do we deal with the issue of substance abuse?"

A recent Department of Education news release may hold the
answer.

According to a July 26 press release, The Office of Safe and Drug-Free
Schools of the U. S. Department of Education issued a grant proposal
application to fund student drug-testing programs during the 2006
fiscal year.

Holmes said that his management team would review the proposal and
consider participation.

The release states, "Beginning this year, the grant program has been
re-structured to conduct the first large-scale national evaluation of
the effectiveness of mandatory random student drug testing using a
randomized control trial study design.

While eliminating much of the work for schools and districts, this
type of controlled study design will help determine if student random
drug testing is, in fact, as effective as the anecdotal evidence suggests.

All applicants funded will participate in a national
evaluation.

This program will eliminate the need for participating individual
schools to create an evaluation design and data collection component
for their programs.

The administration of annual student surveys has been incorporated
into the national evaluation component for the school years 2008-2009
and 2009-2010.

This means that grantees will not have to collect data to fulfill
ED's requirement that grantees report annually on the Government
Performance and Results Act (GPRA) performance measures established
for this program.

Applicants funded will be randomly assigned by the national evaluation
contractor into one of two groups:

(1) Those that will implement mandatory random student drug testing
immediately after the baseline student survey is conducted by the
national evaluator in early 2007; or

(2) Those that will neither promote nor implement mandatory random
student drug testing at any time until national evaluation data is
collected in spring 2008."