BUTLER STUDENTS GET A CHANCE TO STAND TALL

Butler eighth-grader Laura Metrick doesn't have a problem with being drug
and alcohol free and she'd be willing to take a drug test to prove it.

Starting this fall, Butler Junior High School students can volunteer for
Stand Tall -- a random drug-testing program that would screen students
throughout the school year for street drugs such as heroin and marijuana.

"I think it would be a good club. It teaches kids not to use drugs or
alcohol," said Metrick, 13. "I don't think it's an invasion of privacy."

The group will function as a club with participants getting T-shirts and
rubber wristbands. Club members would be eligible for after-school
activities including dances, swim parties and open gyms, said
principal James Allen.

Parents will have to sign a consent form for students to be eligible.

A saliva test will be conducted by an outside agency, the Visiting Nurses
Association, in a private room, Allen said.

Instead of facing punishment, students who test positive for drugs will be
referred to the state's Student Assistance Program, which will be
administered by local coordinators.

"It's not intended as a punitive process," Allen said. "It's an avenue to
let students know that a lot of the cool kids are straight. It's a
positive approach. It's reinforcing to them their beliefs about drugs
and letting them know a whole lot of other kids feel the same way."

Stand Tall is popular in other parts of the state, but it has caught on in
few districts in Western Pennsylvania, Allen said.

Gary Elder, superintendent of Ridgway Area School District in Elk County,
said Stand Tall has been in effect for several years at the district's
high school and middle school.

"We've never had anyone test positive," Elder said. "That's not the point.
It's a good opportunity for positive activity and for kids to stand up for
who they are and not conform."

Jill Bachman, 44, a mother of three and president of the Parent, Student,
Staff Organization at Butler Junior High, said most parents like the idea
of voluntary drug screening.

"I don't think there's any negative repercussions, especially to having a
peer support group," Bachman said. "It's not a program to try and catch
people. It's a program for positive reinforcement."

Random drug testing has been a controversial issue in many districts.
Seneca Valley was the first Western Pennsylvania district to institute
mandatory drug testing, starting in fall 2002. Tests are mandatory
for athletes and students involved in other extracurricular activities in
grades 7 and up.

In November 2003, the state Supreme Court ruled that Delaware Valley
School District in Eastern Pennsylvania could be sued over its
drug-testing policy. Although the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a comparable
drug-testing policy in 2002, the Pennsylvania Constitution allows for
greater privacy protection, the state Supreme Court ruled.

Allen hopes the program will catch on and branch out to the intermediate
high school and then the high school.

"I'd do it. It wouldn't bother me because I don't do those kinds of
things," said Laura's sister, Amy Metrick, 14, who is headed to ninth
grade at Butler Intermediate High School. "A few kids are into that stuff,
but most aren't. It depends on their maturity level."