CHILDRESS OKS RANDOM DRUG TESTING

Students In Extracurricular Activities Face Penalties If Caught

CHILDRESS - Childress Independent School District students have another
reason to say no to drugs.

The district's board of trustees voted June 22 to start random drug testing
for all seventh-through 12th-grade students involved in extracurricular
activities.

The policy takes effect this fall, Superintendent John Wilson said Wednesday.

"It wasn't just the school acting. The entire community came together and
decided that whatever drug use there was, we needed to do something about,"
he said.

Childress, a Class 3A district located about 100 miles southeast of
Amarillo, typically has 70 to 75 percent of its students participating in
extracurricular activities, Wilson said. That includes band, FFA and
University Interscholastic League academics - not just sports, he said.

The first time a student tests positive for drugs, the school will notify
his or her parents and the school administrator, he said. The student also
will be required to complete a drug-awareness program.

A second offense will suspend the student from extracurricular activities
for a year, Wilson said. And a third offense bans the student from the
activities for the rest of his school career, he said.

" The entire community came together and decided that whatever drug use
there was, we needed to do something about." Superintendent John Wilson

The police only become involved if the student is caught possessing the
drug or is under its influence at a school activity, Wilson said.

"Testing positive is not a legal offense," he said.

The board of trustees approved the drug testing with a unanimous vote,
board president Steve Bird said. Board members last month also approved
stationing a Childress police officer at the schools, he said.

"All the ones that were there (at the board meeting) were positive as far
as wanting to see if this drug testing would help the kids," Bird said.

Facing the possibility of being tested could help a student refuse drugs,
he said.

"We're not trying to catch somebody; we're just trying to do something to
keep some kid from doing something he shouldn't be because of peers," Bird
said.

Some students give in to peer pressure more easily than others, said
Christopher Blackburn, spearhead of the Citizens Take Action committee and
editor of Childress Index.

The testing policy could give the students an out.

"It gives them a reason to say no," Blackburn said.