DISTRICTS JUST SAY NO TO EXPANDING DRUG TESTING

As part of his 2004-05 budget submission to Congress, President George
W. Bush has included an additional $23 million for increased drug
testing in schools, up from the $8 million last year in which eight of
the nation's school districts opted to take part in the program geared
to testing students involved in extra-curricular activities, such as
sports teams.

U.S. Congressman John Peterson (PA) has sponsored legislation that
would expand drug testing in schools to include the random testing of
students in grades 8-12 and not just those permitted in a 2002 United
States Supreme Court ruling that upheld the authority of school
districts to randomly test students involved in school-sponsored
extra-curricular activities.

LOWER DAUPHIN

If anything, mandatory drug testing is a controversial issue within
school communities and its practice is not uniform. One local school
district that has implemented a random drug testing program is Lower
Dauphin. However, it's unlikely that the district would change its
current practice regardless of the availability of additional funds or
legislation that would permit expansion.

"We're on the conservative side of the issue," Jim Hazen, LD
spokesperson, said. "There are no plans to expand the scope of the
current policy. The district's solicitor has recommended against doing
anything beyond the present policy until some pending court cases play
out."

Lower Dauphin School District's policy on drug testing is contained in
Board Policy No. 123.2 and was adopted on Nov. 15, 1999. The policy
states in part that it's the "Board's goal to provide for both
mandatory and voluntary drug testing of students as permitted by
current law and court interpretations. Students eligible for mandatory
testing are those who are currently permitted to be tested by ruling
of the United States Supreme Court. Other categories of students will
be recommended to be added to the program when the United States
Supreme Court permits such an expansion."

The mandatory testing program at LD applies only to students who
participate in interscholastic athletics and cheerleading. The
rationale for only including these students appears to be, at least in
part, because these groups have lesser expectations of privacy due to
their involvement in school-sponsored activities, and participation in
sports involves a level of risk that could be compounded by drug use.

LD's policy includes requirements that every sport have a preseason
meeting with parents to cover expectations of the coaches and
athletes, and that a minimum of one drug education meeting be
conducted each season.

Parents or guardians of students who opt to participate must consent
in writing to drug testing. Random testing is done throughout the
season as determined by the athletic department on a schedule
submitted to the district superintendent prior to the beginning of
each sports season.

According to Hazen, each week four to five students are selected at
random by a computer program, which picks their student identification
number from a pool of eligible student athletes.

The initial testing is an in-house drug test screening that, if
positive, is followed by a lab urine test. The policy specifies that
reasonable steps must be taken to ensure the integrity,
confidentiality and random nature of the process. Disciplinary
penalties are also spelled out for violations of the policy, which can
include a 30-day suspension for a first offense, one year for a second
offense, and permanent suspension from the sport for the remainder of
the student athlete's career at LD.

It's important to note that the policy contains language prohibiting
the results of drug tests from appearing on a student's academic
record, nor can the information be disclosed to criminal or juvenile
authorities without a valid subpoena or other legal process.

"We're confident that what we're doing is within the law," Hazen
said.

There's also a provision in the policy for parents to have their
children participate in a program of voluntary drug testing. The
process with respect to consent, frequency, selection, discipline, and
privacy are similar to the requirements contained in the mandatory
testing program.

DERRY TOWNSHIP

Unlike Lower Dauphin, the Derry Township School District does not
conduct random drug testing on any of its students, whether or not
they participate in extra-curricular activities. And according to
Linda Brewer, acting superintendent, the district would not consider
instating such testing in the near future, no matter what type of
funding becomes available.

"I wouldn't want to look at this now," she said. "There's a lot on our
plate and there's a lot that we're doing proactively with drug and
alcohol prevention. The important thing is strategies."

Bonnie Goble, president of the Derry Township School Board, said the
board has not considered the possibility of drug testing either.

"At this point, we have no plans to do that," she said. "We have not
talked about it."

Under the district's current drugs and alcohol policy, students found
to be using or possessing illegal substances at any time on school
property will be subject to "immediate action, investigation,
notification of parents, notification of police, disposition of
substance, and discipline/rehabilitation support."

For students who participate in extra-curricular activities, that
policy is extended to cover every day - and hour - during the school
calendar year.

In addition to whatever disciplinary actions the district decides to
take in cases of drug use or possession, support services, as well as
counseling referrals, are also offered to all students through the
Hershey Intervention Prevention Program.

"We have an extensive prevention program and we do a lot with refusal
skills and a lot to help kids avoid putting themselves in certain
situations," Brewer said. "We have a lot of support personnel. We have
a support team called HIP where we have faculty that are trained in
helping kids avoid maladapted behavior."

Brewer said she relies on those faculty members to help identify
students who may be dealing with substance-abuse problems, rather than
testing.

"There's other ways to evaluate whether or not kids are experimenting
with drugs other than just a test," she said. "There are a lot of
behaviors that you can look at." Another way illegal substance use
might be discovered at Hershey High School is through the physical
searching of students' locks and desks, as well as the use of police
drug dogs, which happened last November.

"Our first major thing was bringing the drug dogs in," Goble said. "We
did do that, and it was the greatest result because they didn't find
anything. We felt like that was a good first step. That was effective
enough, I think, for right now."