PROPOSED DRUG TESTING - SOME ATHLETES AT SHHS OK WITH PLAN

Surrendering privacy and trust aside, some Science Hill High School
student-athletes say they support Science Hill High School's quest to
start testing them for drugs.

"I can see where it is an invasion of someone's privacy, but at the
same time, we're representing Science Hill," basketball standout
Ashley Menner said. "So, I'm up for it. I agree with it."

If the Johnson City Board of Education approves the Athletic
Committee's latest proposal, the high school would randomly test 30
students per month out of about 800 participants in the school's
extracurricular sports programs.

Science Hill trainer Mark "Doc" McDonald said the committee first
discussed testing in 2001 and brought it back up last spring after
coaches increasingly heard reports of drug abuse among some athletes.

"I don't think you can identify one case, but through second-hand
accounts, they're hearing things about the need to change some of the
kids' behaviors," McDonald said. "This is one way to address it."

Though the program would reach less than half the pool each year,
school officials hope the prospect of a random test would be enough of
a deterrent for students.

"Some kids may think, 'My chances of getting picked are so small that
I'm going to go ahead and do what I want,' but hopefully for that kid
who is on the fringe and not wanting to do it, now they have another
reason to say no," McDonald said.

Science Hill senior football and baseball player Justice Joslin, 18,
would graduate before the tests were implemented, but he supports the
idea since he knows some athletes who use drugs, even if they
represent a small percentage of his peers.

"It's kind of a good idea, just because you shouldn't have people on
drugs, especially in high school playing sports and that kind of
deal," Joslin said. "There are also the kids who don't do drugs who
could feel like the school doesn't trust them, but there are kids who
do.

"I know some of them, and I think they should be tested, but overall,
there are more kids who don't do drugs than do in our school."

Most students should have nothing to fear from random tests, Menner
said.

"If you have nothing to hide -- if you're keeping your nose clean and
you're doing what you should - you shouldn't have to worry about
that," she said. "For the most part, I don't think a lot of Science
Hill students will have to worry about it, but there are a select few
who will."

Menner, a junior, said the school, not just the student, suffers from
drug use.

"Science Hill wants to portray a good image to the community,
especially among our athletes," she said. "Having them doing drugs
does not portray the image we want at Science Hill."

Sophomores Solomon Duanah and Corey Hamilton, both 16, said they would
have no problem with submitting to random tests.

"I've got no problem with it, because I don't do drugs," Duanah said.
"They can go ahead and do that. It's all right with me.

"I know some people who mess around like that. The school should do
that, because I know some people who could be really good in sports,
but they're messing up by doing drugs and stuff like that, and they're
messing up our team, too, by doing that."

Hamilton said he did not think he had been let down by teammates who
use drugs, but the performance could be affected, so he would support
the testing program.

"I think they should do it, because people who do drugs hurt the team
and everything like that," he said. "School grades go down."

Would the tests amount to unfair invasion for someone who had done
nothing wrong or had shown no signs of using drugs?

"In a way it is, but I don't know," Duanah said. "It is a little bit,
but you've got to do that if you really care about that person. You've
got to do stuff like that."

When the Athletic Committee proposed the testing program in February,
the school board agreed to conduct a workshop on the subject before
its April 3 meeting. In that workshop, board members asked staff
members to look into whether it was feasible to expand the tests to
other extracurricular activities, such as band and chorus, to involve
more students and not single out athletes.

So, are athletes any more likely to use drugs than other
students?

"Not necessarily so," Science Hill Principal David Chupa said. "I
think it's equal across the student population. But we know there's
not much case law to support testing the whole student population. We
know there is very specific case law for supporting the random testing
of athletes."

That's because athletic participation is voluntary. Students do not
receive grades for playing sports. If drug testing were required to
participate in a band concert, for example, a student's grade could be
affected, if that concert were part of academic requirements.

Chupa said the staff would have to look outside the area to find
schools that test students in other extracurricular activities to
research the academic implications and the legal issues involved.

"It's a complex issue that I don't think we'll find an answer to
(before the board considers the proposal), Chupa said.

Plus, a larger pool of students would alter the program's scope,
administration and costs.

"I appreciate the fact that the board wants to be broader, because I
want to do anything we can to protect students from participating in
the use of drugs," Chupa said, "but we want to make sure it's a smooth
operation and an operation we can conduct in an appropriate fashion."

McDonald said the athletic proposal would cost between $7,500 and
$8,000 per year.