SCHOOL-WIDE DRUG TESTING POSSIBLE

While a private St. Louis school draws national attention for its
pursuit of being the first high school to require drug tests of all
its students, public schools are sking if they should seek adopting
similar policies in the future.

Several local schools already test students participating in
extracurricular activities, but have yet to look into the pros and
cons of testing their entire student bodies and the legalities it
would possibly entail.

I know a lot of people are worried about privacy concerns,
but they're telling us it'll be kept confidential," said Tommy Daher, 17,
of Manchester, a student at Christian Brothers College High School.
I think it's great that we'll be leading the way in this."

The school has not decided whether to implement the program.
Officials have asked parents to respond to a survey on the idea and
have not set a timetable for a decision.

Like Christian Brothers, schools around the nation have been trying
to determine what's helpful, and what's over the line when it comes
to testing children for drugs. There's a move in many public schools
to test athletes or students involved in extracurricular activities.
Schools testing for steroids are on the rise.

Hollister School District has been conducting drug testing on
students who participate in extracurricular activities since 2004.

Hollister Superintendent Brett Reese said although it is not
something that has been discussed for Hollister School District, he
sees how testing all students could be beneficial for school districts.

"I think it's a decision for each individual school district," Reese
said. "It wouldn't be necessary in every school district, but I can
definitely see where it would be for others. I'm certainly not
opposed to it."

Private schools have more leeway to set their own policies, though
the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that schools can conduct random
drug testing on middle and high school students who participate in
competitive extracurricular activities. President Bush voiced
support of student drug testing in his 2004 State of the Union
address, helping to fuel interest, said the White House Office of
National Drug Control Policy.

I think it's a clear tool not to play hide-and-seek with this problem,"
said the White House office's director, John Walters.

He has heard of roughly one school district or private school a week
starting some form of random drug testing since last spring. He did
not know of any public schools attempting mandatory testing of all
its students, as some private schools are doing.

At Christian Brothers College High, students and officials of the
school run by a Roman Catholic order say they have a small drug
problem no worse than other schools and are looking for an effective
deterrent. Randomly selected students who test positive would be
offered help and asked to leave school if they fail a second round of
testing.

If the program moves forward, about 15 students a day would be
randomly selected for testing at the start of an academic year until
the entire student body has been checked. Random tests would continue
during the year.

The Branson school board assigned a task force made up of students,
parents, employees and board members to gather more information on
similar policies to those adopted by other school districts to
randomly test students participating in extracurricular activities.

Brenda Romine, communication director for the Branson School District
said that such policies are ones that all schools will eventually
have to adopt.

"The school board's decision to research and eventually adopt a
drug-testing policy isn't one that was made because of a specific
incident or because we feel we have a problem with drugs," Romine
said. "It's just something that all schools are facing and eventually
will have to look into."

Brent Blevins, Forsyth School District assistant superintendent, said
that although he would not be opposed to testing the whole student
population he does not immediately see the benefits of adopting such
a program.

"Realistically, I don't see how we could enforce testing every
student, because if someone did test positive what would the
punishment be?" Blevins said. "Our obligation is to provide
education. I would much rather see that money go toward providing a
drug education class, so that when these kids graduate from school,
and we're not there to hold their hands they can go out and make the
right decisions."