HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: DRUG TESTING DEBATE ENTERS THIRD YEAR

The Reed and McQueen football teams again will carry a distinction
that makes them different than all others -- they are the only Washoe
County football programs to adopt a drug testing program the past two
years. And they likely will stand alone again this fall.

Fall football practices started across Northern Nevada last week, and
they brought with them the issue of drug testing, which was first
introduced in 2008 by McQueen after school board trustees approved a
testing program. Screening has since expanded to the Reed football and
Damonte Ranch softball programs.

But it is expensive. A recession and a tight school district budget
has schools paying for their own drug testing programs should they
choose to implement them -- each test costs $37 -- and with only one
positive test among three high schools in the past two years, the
question remains: Why do it?

"It's a golden opportunity to provide kids with early intervention and
treatment," said Katherine Loudon, the counseling coordinator for Drug
Safe and Free Schools in Washoe County.

Said McQueen athletic director Eric Borja, "We've presented it as
something that helps our kids, not hurts them."

For a testing program to be introduced at a Washoe County school, it
must be approved by administrators, coaches and a two-thirds majority
parent vote. Last August, Galena failed to become the third area
football program to approve drug testing after fewer than two-thirds
of parents voted to implement the urine testing.

Loudon says the partnership among the three entities, in addition to
funding, is critical.

"I look at (administration, coaching staff and parents) as a
three-legged stool," Loudon said. "We consider it one piece of our
substance abuse plan in our district, but it needs to be coupled with
other strategies to be successful."

The drug testing now in effect at the three schools in Washoe County
is designed to detect alcohol, nicotine, amphetamines and at times,
steroids, Loudon said.

Sport Safe, a student testing service, conducts random tests on 12
Reed football players and 10 McQueen players per week during the
season. Last year, the tests were paid for through a grant by the
nonprofit company, Join Together Northern Nevada, but those funds are
exhausted.

McQueen and Reed must now wholly finance their drug testing programs;
they are doing so through fundraising and parent support.

"(The drug testing) has gone really well for us. We've had a perfect
record," Reed athletic director Ron Combs said. "The kids have been
really receptive, parents have been really receptive. We're obviously
very pleased with the results."

Borja said recent national research that has been critical of drug
testing at the high school level makes implementing programs at a
wider level more challenging.

In 2009, the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada was critical of
the Douglas County School Board after the trustees implemented
year-round random drug testing for all district students involved in
extra-curricular activities.

Other critics have their reasons for blasting the testing, among them
being an invasion of minors' privacy and ineffective results.

But the major roadblock in Washoe County is funding. The school
district doesn't have the funds to pay for the costs of the Sport Safe
tests.

Parents will pay around $40 a year at Reed and McQueen, and the teams
also will get money through fundraisers. Not that it has been a thorn
in the side at the two pioneering testing schools.

"That's how strongly they believe in doing it," said Combs, who is
entering his third year as athletic director at Reed. "The football
program took the first step, they volunteered to do it."

Borja said he will continue to work with the coaching staff and
parents to keep testing the McQueen football program in the future,
and he hopes to expand testing to all sports teams at the school. The
idea is deterrence, he said, and eliminating bad habits that could
become a problem down the road.

Whether other area schools adopt drug testing will depend on the views
of the parents, coaches and administration at each institution -- and
funding.

"I'd love to say our district would be able to help fund this program,
but the reality is money is tight," said Borja, who added that parents
will be the final key to expanding or discontinuing a testing program.
"I think that's a perception ... I think if you poll every school,
they will have a different reaction."

"It's a golden opportunity to teach kids about substances and
substance abuse," said Loudon, who added that the program isn't
disciplinary and a positive test will not be recorded on a student's
permanent record.

That extra effort is worth it in the end, said Loudon, because the
program is a powerful deterrent to substance abuse.