A DRUG-FREE PLAYING FIELD

Athletes at Walton-Verona High School had a new test to pass last month
before they donned the Bearcats uniform and took the court. It had nothing
to do with math, with history or with academics at all.

The test involved urinating in a cup -- and having it tested for illegal
drugs. At any point during the season, they might have to do it again.

The test is a reaction to annual student drug and alcohol surveys whose
numbers seemed to hold steady no matter what the school did, said
Superintendent Bill Boyle. "We've done all the 'just say no' stuff we can
do and haven't seen an impact," he said. "We knew we had to do more."

Players who fail the urine test will be suspended for 10 days from their
team and undergo a drug intervention program. They are not punished
academically, nor criminally. Theoretically, only their parents and coaches
are told. In that way, Boyle said, the program is not punitive but more of
an "intervention, helpful-type thing."

Next year the program, which costs about $4 a test, might be expanded to
include members of non-sports clubs, he said.

There was little opposition from students or parents when the district
discussed and decided to implement the test this fall. Nor has there been
an outcry at the five other Northern Kentucky school districts that have
mandatory drug testing of athletes and other students.

But on a national level, the issue is simmering with controversy.

Despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2002 that said it was legal to test
not only athletes but students in other extracurricular activities as well,
some school districts are shutting down programs, saying they were costly
and ineffective. The California legislature tried to ban the tests, and
tests in some other states ran afoul of state laws on privacy and
confidentiality.

The Supreme Court made it clear the tests did not violate Fourth Amendment
protection against unreasonable search and seizure. But the paradox of a
student learning about the Constitution in civics class one moment and the
next being forced to urinate in a cup while a school official listens, even
though the student is not suspected of doing drugs, is just too much, said
Ross Wilson, legislative director for Students for a Sensible Drug Policy,
a group based in Washington D.C. that is critical of the nation's war on
drugs. "It's a strange message to be sending to students about how our
country is being run," Wilson said.

Wilson said schools would be better off hiring counselors who can get at
the reasons students do drugs and hit them with "real facts" instead of
"scare tactics."

An American Civil Liberties Union report earlier this year listed concerns
about testing, including that tests:

Aren't effective deterrents to using drugs. The ACLU quotes a University of
Michigan study that found tests had no impact on overall rates of drug use
by students.

Take money away from more effective programs.

Create a legal risk.

Are counterproductive in that they drive students away from extracurricular
activities. Studies show students not involved in after-school activities
are more likely to do drugs.

Undermine the trust between students, teachers and parents.

Can result in false positives from prescription drugs.

Do not identify students with the most serious drug problems.

Can drive some students to use drugs that are more dangerous but less
detectable.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy, in a guide for parents and
schools, mentions other concerns: accuracy, confidentiality, privacy and
effectiveness (many of the tests don't detect common drugs used illegally
by teens, including alcohol, inhalants and "club" drugs like as Ecstasy and
GHB).

But local superintendents say they're convinced the tests work.

Dayton High School became the first in the state to institute mandatory
tests in 1995 after 12 football players were suspended for using drugs and
one player was admitted to a hospital after using LSD. Five players a week
are tested on a random basis. Over nine years, only three players have
tested positive, said Greg Baxter, director of pupil personnel. "It is a
deterrent," he said, primarily because it gives students an "out" in the
face of peer pressure.

Erlanger-Elsmere instituted its testing program in fall 1997.
Superintendent Mike Sander, then principal of Lloyd Memorial High School,
said there were a few incidents involving players under the influence of
drugs or alcohol out in the community, and a survey revealed more students
were using drugs than officials would have thought. The district acted with
the notion that "most kids really want to do what's right, that it's a
privilege to play extracurriculars, not a right -- and that
student-athletes are leaders in the community, and we want them to be
positive role models," Sander said.

Lloyd also created the Drug-Free Club, which non-athletes can join by
voluntarily undergoing the random urine tests in exchange for perks like
free admission to basketball and football games.

A 5 percent sample of athletes and club members are tested every Monday for
about a dozen illegal drugs, he said. Punishment is stiff -- at least a
four-week suspension from the team -- but failed tests are rare. It's
happened only two or three times, he said.

Those results -- and the fact that the Drug-Free Club is year in, year out
the most popular club in the school, with about a third of the school as
members -- are proof the tests work, Sander said.

Seniors Nick Brinkman and Nicole Vonbokern, four-year members of the club,
said students don't mind the tests given the rewards. "It's no big deal
because everybody goes through it eventually," Vonbokern said. Agreed
Brinkman, "It's no big deal because I don't have anything to worry about."

A fourth school, Campbell County, has the most aggressive testing program
of all -- not only are athletes tested, but so are all club members and
anyone who drives a car to class and parks on school property.

But the tests aren't universally adopted. About 5 percent of districts
nationally have the tests. In Kentucky, 32 of 176 districts have mandatory
tests. But several schools considered a program but decided against it out
of concerns of privacy, cost and fairness, said Brad Hughes, spokesman for
the Kentucky School Boards Association.

Jack Moreland, who began the testing program while superintendent in Dayton
and now runs Covington's schools, hasn't felt compelled to start the tests
in the region's largest inner-city district, spokesman Bill Weathers said,
because there haven't been any big problems involving students from Holmes.

State officials say the drug screens aren't usually a big topic when
educators get together.

"If it hasn't been a problem in their district, then they're talking about
teacher pay, test scores -- and dozens of other issues," Hughes said. "But
it doesn't take a child's death for all of a sudden for this to go from
nowhere on the radar screen -- to 'we've got to do this.' "