VALLEY STUDENTS MAY FACE DRUG TESTING

WASHINGTON -- More California schools, including some in the Central
Valley, may begin random drug testing of students to answer one
fundamental question:

Does it really work?

The Bush administration thinks it does, which is why the White House
wants a record $15 million to fund random drug tests next year.
Already, federal funding has boosted drug testing this year in the
Southern California cities of El Centro, Oceanside, Paradise and Vista.

"The school that has started testing is very satisfied with it," Rita
Brogan, director of well-being programs with the Imperial County
Office of Education, said Friday. "The community is very supportive.
Of course, there are always one or two who will raise concerns."

The concerns, in fact, range from principled to pragmatic. Some
question the privacy precedent of requiring urine specimens from
cheerleaders and student-body officers. Some doubt random testing
cuts drug use. Some worry about costs that can run upward of $60 per test.

Still, even without federal support like the $300,000 grant provided
the Imperial County schools, drug testing has proliferated. Schools
in Valley and Mother Lode towns including Angels Camp, Clovis,
Kingsburg and Fowler have initiated voluntary student drug testing.
In Fresno, the idea has sparked a running debate.

"I think if there were additional funding, more schools would do it,"
said Tuolumne County Superintendent of Schools Joe Silva.

At the same time, Silva noted that drug testing of student athletes
in Nevada County -- where he was living when his children were in
high school -- provoked considerable controversy. So far, he said,
"there have been no discussions" of initiating drug tests in Tuolumne
County schools.

Nationwide, an estimated 13 percent of high schools had established
drug-testing policies as of 2003 despite some persistent skepticism.
In Modoc County, for instance, educators considered and then rejected
a mandatory drug-testing plan.

"The privacy interest in one's urine is significant," the
libertarian-minded Cato Institute averred in a 2002
friend-of-the-court brief. "The students here are required to urinate
into a cup while a teacher listens outside the stall (girls) or
behind them (boys) for sounds of tampering ... this is all still a
significant intrusion."