STUDENT DRUG TESTS DECLINES

School districts around Pennsylvania have cut back or stopped screening
students for drug use both because of cost and concerns about legal
ramifications.

A handful of districts, including Seneca Valley in Butler County, still
require drug testing of students, especially those who participate in
interscholastic sports.

But some officials have been rethinking their policies in light of the
state Supreme Court's ruling last year that a desire to discourage drug use
among students is not enough to justify "suspicionless" drug screening of
parking-permit holders, student-athletes and participants in other
extracurricular activities.

The ruling stemmed from a challenge of a similar policy by some parents in
the Delaware Valley School District. The justices turned down the Delaware
Valley School District's attempt to have a lawsuit in Pike County
dismissed, meaning that a legal challenge seeking to block the testing can
proceed.

Since the ruling, the Franklin Regional and Canon-McMillan districts have
stopped drug screening for student athletes and students who drive to school.

The high court ruling led the Franklin Regional School District to end its
random drug testing program before it was a year old, Superintendent Pamela
Pulkowski said.

Belle Vernon Area once screened every athlete and cheerleader for steroid
and recreational drug use. But at $100 apiece, the tests became too
expensive for the school district, which now randomly tests 5 percent of
its cheerleaders and athletes, athletic director Jim Bush said.

The district hasn't considered modifying its policy since the state Supreme
Court handed down its ruling. While students haven't resisted the drug
screening, a few have wondered why they were singled out.

That's why former football coach Gary Dongilli, once an advocate for Belle
Vernon's drug testing policy, now thinks it was a bad idea.

"I'd never again advise a school system to do it," Dongilli said. "It
became a political thing. There was supposed to be confidentiality with the
testing, but there wasn't."

Some other Mon Valley school officials said their districts do not, by
policy, conduct random drug test. Students have been tested in the face of
suspicion.

"Currently, there are no students being tested. I would assume that one of
the major issues for a district like Monessen would be the cost," Monessen
Superintendent Dr. Alex Warren said.

Warren said the school district does not have a drug test program.

"If there is an issue, the student is usually forced into testing as part
of the punishment," Warren said. "Usually, that comes through the juvenile
court system ... or it's requested by the parents. The district's not
involved directly," he said.

Random drug testing is not mandatory in Charleroi Area and Ringgold school
districts.

"Any student would be tested if there was reasonable suspicion," Ringgold
Superintendent Ed Repka said. "There's been occasion. It's not very common.
It's rare, but it's been at the parents' expense."