DRUG TESTS WORKING IN CITY SCHOOLS

Six Students Tested Positive for Marijuana

When it comes to drug testing students from the seventh grade
on up, there's nothing like getting that first year out of the way to
work the kinks out. That's the sentiments of McComb High School head
football coach and athletic director Ted Milton, put in charge of
overseeing the efforts to detect drugs such as marijuana and cocaine
in the district's students. Milton said students who participate in
extracurricular activities, such as sports, choir, band or even the
Tiger Rag student newspaper, were subject to drug tests.

Of the 260 students tested last school year, six students tested
positive and all were for marijuana. When it came to sitting
face-to-face with parents about their child's drug use, Milton was
apprehensive. "I was scared to death of that first meeting," he said
in a speech to the McComb Rotary Club on Wednesday. "I've never done
that before. But I can say in 30 years in the district, drug testing
is a good thing. It's working." Officials began drug testing, upheld
by the U.S. Supreme Court and adopted from a similar school district
in Michigan, last December. Before testing began, Milton held public
meetings to inform the public on the testing process. The tests cost
the district $17 per student and detect such drugs as marijuana and
cocaine.

"We sent home the form for kids to sign who weren't in extracurricular
activities. Of the 400 we sent home to parents, we only got five
back," he said with a hint of exasperation. "Five! A free drug test!
Parents don't want to know. 'Don't tell me my kid did something
wrong.' " Milton said the district was venturing through unchartered
waters when it began the drug-testing effort. He never predicted it
would go as smooth as it did, either. School officials sent home the
15-page policy with the students and they had seven days to bring it
back signed. All students complied, he said.

"This past year, we tested 260 students and had six positives," he
said. "Everyone who tested positive, they were re-tested two weeks
later. (Circuit Court) Judge Keith Starrett and court official Don
Lindley helped administer the tests."

Milton said testing is done at random and the results are kept
confidential. "We'd give each student a number," Milton said. "We'd
draw five numbers out of a jug. We had a set place and time to do the
test. We'd call them out of class. If they were taking a test, they'd
have to make it up. We'd have water for them to drink, give them the
cup in the bathroom, they initial it." If a student tests positive,
Milton said, "we talk to the student, notify the coach or band
director, line up a conference with the parent. The student is
suspended from the activity until they test again in two weeks. That's
how serious we are about this."

Milton said one student tested positive for a methamphetamine. It was
later determined the student was using a prescription nasal spray.
"We've budgeted for 600 tests this coming school year," Milton said.
"Those who tested positive last year who return to school this year
will be tested nine times this coming school year."

Milton said though teachers in the district are exempt from testing,
those with commercial driver's licenses are not.

"Being the football coach, when I have players practicing in
100-degree heat in August, I don't want them falling out," Milton
said. "I had a kid go into a full-body cramp, it's scary. Took four
IVs to get him back. To me, this is the right thing to do and we're
going to make sure that kids that represent the McComb School District
correctly do so."

Students who test positive aren't subject to criminal charges,
however, unless they are caught with the drugs in their possession.
"The thing we're out to do is deter it," Milton said. "When you test
the first go around and get four positives and then the rest of the
year only get two, what does that tell ya?"