TREATMENT AND DETERRENCE AIM FOR DRUG TESTING

If Lawrenceburg school corporation begins testing students for drug use,
the goal will be to get them treatment, not punish them, school board
member Kelly Mollaun told a small group attending a forum Saturday, Aug. 7.

A second goal is to deter kids from using controlled substances, said
Mollaun, noting 18 students have been expelled from Lawrenceburg High
School, and almost as many from Greendale Middle School, in the past six
years for using drugs.

Mollaun and eight members of a committee, formed to look into the testing
idea, listened to comments from the group and answered questions.

The committee has been working with Sports Safe Testing Service, Inc.,
Powell, Ohio, to learn how drug testing in schools functions, said Mollaun,
committee chairman.

Chris Franz, a representative of Sports Safe Testing Service, also attended
the forum.

Any policy the committee might recommend could affect only students
participating in voluntary activities, including sports and driving to the
school campus, due to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, said Mollaun.

A policy would have to be approved by the school board, he said.

School board members attending the forum in addition to Mollaun were Nancy
Weldon, a committee member; Shirley Seitz, Tim Denning, president, and Greg
McAdams, vice president.

Committee members generally agree a first positive test would not affect a
student's participation in extracurricular activities. A second probably
would, said Mollaun.

"Why is this a need for our community right now?" asked Jeanne Lehn,
Lawrenceburg, pointing out 18 students over six years is less than 1
percent of the LHS student body.

"There's been a marked increase in the amount of drugs flooding this
community," said Weldon, who works in the Dearborn/Ohio County Prosecutor's
Office.

The increase includes a big jump in heroin use in the past year, she said.

The program would give kids the opportunity to say no to peers offering
them drugs by explaining they might be tested, said Weldon.

Some California schools have decided not to use drug testing because it
hasn't been the deterrent they thought it would be, said Lehn.

Drug testing is relatively new, but it has worked in the military and in
work places, said Franz.

"You want to deter that kid from ever using drugs the first time," said Franz.

No academic penalties

The school's response to a positive test cannot apply to academic
participation according to the Supreme Court ruling. But a student caught
with drugs in school can be suspended or expelled, said Franz.

Franz explained how Sports Safe testing procedures work.

The school sets a number of students to be tested and a time frame. If 15
students are to be tested per week, the company computer randomly selects
that many names, and those students are tested one day that week, with the
day varying, he said.

Each student is sent alone into a bathroom to produce a urine sample, but
the toilet water is dyed and the sinks taped off, said Franz.

Should a student test positive, a company representative first contacts a
parent. If a student is on a prescription medicine and the parent faxes the
prescription for the positive substance, the test becomes negative. But if
no legitimate explanation exists, the company next informs the school
representative, said Franz.

School representatives and company employees must sign confidentiality
forms, he said.

The school rep then sets up a meeting with the student and his or her
parents, at which counseling options are discussed and treatment
recommended, said Franz.

The Community Mental Health Center, Lawrenceburg, can provide treatment at
no or reduced cost depending on family income, said Mollaun.

Criteria for evaluating a testing program must be part of the policy, said
Lehn.

The school should look at whether extracurricular participation is
increasing or decreasing and other concrete evaluations, using them to make
a business decision whether to continue the testing program, she said.

Sports Safe charges $26 for a 10-screen test including alcohol, or $29 a
test that includes Ecstasy. School officials can choose what group of
substances to test for, and can vary them, said Franz.

The committee is looking at an annual cost of $20,000 to $25,000, and hopes
to get funding, said Mollaun.

Students would be banned from extracurricular participation if their
parents refused to sign the consent form, said McAdams.

Unless teachers and other school staff are willing to participate, he would
not support a drug testing policy, he stressed.

Unless staff participate voluntarily, participation would be a contract
matter for the teachers union, said Mollaun, adding the committee will meet
with the union soon.

The board, however, could implement a requirement for non-certified staff
to be tested. Bus drivers already submit to random tests under Department
of Transportation standards, he said.

The committee has been considering recommending the drug testing policy to
the school board for implementation as early as this January or as late as
the beginning of the 2006-07 school year, said Mollaun.

The committee includes parents, principals and a student representative.