STUDENTS 'RALLY AGAINST DRUGS'

Mulberry Program To Keep Kids Clean Kicks Off With Strong Enrollment

MULBERRY -- Passing a test has never paid off so well.

Last week, Mulberry High kicked off its "Rally Against Drugs"
program, thought to be the first of its kind in the nation. Students
who participate in the program voluntarily subject themselves to
random drug testing and are rewarded with prizes for staying drug-free.

"We have 22 students currently enrolled," Loura Townsend, business
development officer for Community First Credit Union, which provided
the $12,000 in seed money. "And that's our focus panel that helped us
design the reward system and how they wanted the drug testing to take
place . . . We just sat down with the best kids they had here and
said, 'What do we need to offer you to keep the kids off drugs?' "

Mulberry High held two assemblies Thursday to explain the program to
roughly 800 students. The assemblies featured entertainment and door
prizes, including Lakeland Thunder tickets and an MP3 player.
Townsend said she hoped to have at least 250 students enrolled in the
days following the assemblies.

"Starting so late in the school year had a lot to do with politics
with the School Board," she said.

By lunchtime Thursday, the school had already collected 200 enrollment forms.

"We have exceeded our expectations on the first day of enrollment,"
said Community First President and CEO John Santarpia in a statement Friday.

Students who turn in their enrollment forms early will be given a T-
shirt and will be entered for a chance to win an MP3 player.

"Random drug testing will take place every other week," Townsend
said. "We're hoping to have at least 200 done by the end of this year
so we can carry back some statistics."

The program must be approved on an annual basis by the School Board.
Townsend hopes the statistics will spur the board to expand it countywide.

Patricia Hay, 15, a sophomore at Mulberry, won $100 for coming up
with the name for RAD. She said she thinks students will receive the
program well and won't have a problem being tested.

"First of all, they shouldn't be doing drugs to begin with," she
said. "So since they should be drug-free, if you do (enroll) you get
cool prizes."

Townsend said students who are enrolled will have special events that
only they are invited to, such as concerts, and special prizes that
only they qualify for, such as Wal-Mart gift certificates.

"They're going to be able to put this on their resume, that they're
drug-free," she said. "The Polk County School Board is considering
community service hours for the people at RAD."

Mulberry Principal George Hatch is pleased with the program and hopes
it helps to keep students drug-free.

"I really believe in my heart that 80 to 90 percent of the kids are
drug-free anyway," he said. "And this is a way of rewarding those
kids for making this choice."

He added: "And the athletes have to do it anyway. So that's a no-
brainer for them."

Polk County made national news two years ago when it developed a
recreational drug testing program for student athletes. That program
was later expanded to include steroid testing.

The district has administered about 6,000 tests. And so far, only
about 20 have come up positive.

"Ninety-nine percent of the time, it's marijuana," said Audrey Kelly-
Fritz, senior manager of the Mark Wilcox Center, home of the drug
treatment and prevention program for Polk schools. "It's because it
stays in the system for so long and because it's more popular."