ATHLETES' DRUG TESTING HAS BEEN QUIETLY DROPPED IN CHESTER UPLAND

Concerns ran high when the policy was announced last year. There is little
support for resuming it.

CHESTER -- When the Chester Upland School District instituted mandatory drug
testing for high school athletes in mid-1997, coaches feared the loss of key
players, many parents said their children were being unfairly singled out,
and administrators repeatedly pushed back the test date in response to the
objections.

It now turns out that few, if any, athletes were ever screened, and although
the policy is still formally in effect, testing has been quietly
discontinued.

The main architect of the drug-testing program, Donald F. Tonge, resigned in
March from Chester Upland's Board of Control, which has managed the
district's affairs since it was declared distressed in 1994. He could not be
reached last week.

Joseph D. Lapchick, the superintendent at that time, resigned in May.

"There was never any decision on my part to stop the testing; I just don't
know what happened to it," Lapchick said last week.

Juan R. Baughn, the district's acting superintendent, said that "the subject
of drug testing has not come up during my tenure here and I have never
brought it up."

Thomas M. Persing, who took over as chairman of the Board of Control in May,
said last week: "I'm not aware that such a policy even exists; this is the
first time it has been brought to my attention. We'll certainly look into
it."

Opinions differ on whether any testing was ever carried out.

District spokeswoman Jocelyn Keeve-Crawford said that John Dohler, the
assistant principal at Chester High School, told her that random screenings
were done on a few basketball players in January, before the program was
discontinued because of funding difficulties. Keeve-Crawford said that Randy
Legette, the Chester High athletic director, told her that he did not think
any testing had been done before the program was dropped.

There was little debate or controversy in August 1997 when Chester Upland
became the first district in Delaware County and only the third in
Southeastern Pennsylvania to require random drug testing for student
athletes.

Under the policy passed by the Board of Control, student athletes who tested
positive in random drug screenings would be suspended from sports
participation for at least half the season and required to undergo
counseling. Athletes who refused testing would not be allowed to play.

Tonge said at the time that the policy would help fight the perception that
drug use was prevalent in the district and would provide counseling for the
few players who did test positive.

But when only a small number of football players showed up for practice in
September, some parents and players got upset, saying that the poor turnout
was a reaction to drug testing.

More players later came out, but in late September, just before they were to
be tested, some coaches and parents called for a moratorium.

They said that many parents had not been properly informed about the policy
and had refused to sign drug-testing permission slips, which was supposed to
lead to their sons' automatic suspension from the team.

The Board of Control agreed to delay testing until after Thanksgiving. The
football team ended the season with a 9-2 record, winning the Del-Val League
championship.

In November, a group of parents, coaches and administrators suggested
modifying the policy so that students who tested positive for the first time
would be counseled, not suspended.

That change was never formally made by the Board of Control, but a similar
procedure was put into effect administratively.

All that appears to be moot now, as there appears to be little support for
putting the policy back into practice.

"It wasn't a very popular policy to begin with," said Lawrence Hamm,
president of the Chester High School Parent Teacher Organization.

"A lot of people, including myself, felt that the high school students were
being made an example of, unfairly. I think they were well-advised to drop
the policy. It seems to be a dead issue now, and it should stay dead."

Checked-by: Don Beck