POLK SCHOOLS WILL BEGIN TESTING STUDENT-ATHLETES

Drug Tests On Trial

WINTER HAVEN - Nearly every student-athlete in a Polk County public high
school will soon be asked to submit to a random drug test.

Technically, the process is as simple as signing a consent form and
providing a sample.

Beyond that, it gets complicated.

What some view as a preventive measure to ensure students' safety on and
off the playing field, others see as a pre-emptive invasion of privacy.

The nature and scope of Polk's program, scheduled to start later this
month, also have been matters of debate.

Some school officials have decried the project's singular focus on
student-athletes, while others say that specific method will lead to the
program's larger success.

For the students involved, there are only two options: Take the test and
play sports, or refuse and sit the bench.

While this isn't the first student drug-testing program seen in the United
States, Florida, or even Polk County, the decision to test or accede to one
has not become any easier. Testing legal, courts say For those who wonder
whether it's legal to drug test student-athletes, it is. In the 1995 case
of Vernonia School District vs. Acton, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the
constitutionality of random drug testing for students who participate in
school athletics. Then, in the 2002 case of the Board of Education of
Independent School District No. 92 of Pottawatomie County vs. Earls, the
court ruled in favor of a drug-testing program for students involved in any
kind of competitive extracurricular activities. Because these students
elect to participate in sports or other activities, they can be tested.

Those who don't fit into the above two categories and attend school for
mandatory curriculum are protected by the Constitution. There is no clear
count of how many student drug testing programs exist nationwide, but
estimates range between 2,000 and 2,500. As of the 2002-2003 school year,
11 Florida school districts had policies of student-athlete testing, and an
additional nine districts allowed their schools the option of drug testing,
according to the Florida Department of Education. The justifications for
testing students are many. A report from the Office of National Drug
Control Policy (ONDCP) states that "The brain is not fully developed in
early childhood, as was once believed, but is in fact still growing in
adolescence. "Introducing chemical changes in the brain through the use of
illegal drugs can therefore have far more serious adverse effects on
adolescents than on adults." The ONDCP also cites data from the 1999-2000
National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, in which 8.99 percent of youths
age 12-17 reported using an illicit drug within the past month.

In a 2002 survey of 63,000 Florida middle and high school students, 6
percent of middle school students reported using marijuana within the past
month, and 17 percent of high school students reported the same (use of
other drugs was reported far less than marijuana) . According to the ONDCP,
some of these students end up on the wrong side of the law. There were
12,808 juvenile drug arrests in Florida in 2002, down from 14,656 the year
before.

During the same 2001-2002 period, drug charges ranked second only to
larceny in overall juvenile arrests. TESTING FUNDS, PROCEDURES School
districts can pay for drug testing programs through local funds or federal
grants supplied through the Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities
program. But state officials say that drug testing isn't pushed on schools.
"We authorize the school districts to develop their own substance abuse
policy," said MacKay Jimeson, deputy communications director for the
Florida Department of Education. "Essentially what we're doing is giving
school districts autonomy so they are able to cater to the needs of their
students.

We're leaving it in the hands of local districts to decide." In Polk's
case, funds for the program will come through a federal grant that will pay
$232,000 each year for three years. The project works like this: -
Student-athletes at 15 county public high schools and one private high
school will be selected by their Florida High School Athletic Association
roster numbers and tested at random.

District officials hope to visit each school three to five times during
each athletic season and test roughly 40 percent of their student-athletes.
- - Under proposed guidelines, student-athletes who fail a drug test will be
suspended from school sports until they complete 10 days in an assessment
program, administered by the Mark Wilcox Drug-Free Schools Program. If the
student complies with all recommendations from the assessment, they will be
allowed to return to athletics on a probationary status, which lasts until
they leave/graduate from a Polk high school or quit school sports. Upon
subsequent offenses, the student-athlete will face suspension from school
sports for a full year, in addition to suspension from the current athletic
season. - Student-athletes who alter their urine samples or refuse to be
tested also will be immediately suspended from sports for a full calendar
year thereafter following the end of the athletic season. - Samples are
collected at school and tested twice by the county's drug court.

If a sample comes back positive, the results are sent to a lab for further
tests, at which point they are evaluated by a medical review officer (a
physician contracted by the district). Ed Boos, the district's supervisor
of prevention, health and wellness, said that students who test positive
will be prescribed various methods of treatment. "When we do an assessment,
what we're trying to determine is the extent of the use on the part of the
student, and we're trying to determine what the student's needs are in
regards to intervention or treatment," he said. "We base recommendations on
those needs." Boos said the assessments are conducted through the use of
written screening exercises, interviews with specialists and an analysis of
the student's classroom behavior, attendance record and academic
performance at school. For treatment, Boos said a student could participate
in group counseling sessions, offered free to the district by Tri County
Human Services, Inc. If a student used drugs in a moment of
"experimentation," he said, a treatment plan would more likely include
closer supervision by their parents or a focused regimen of additional
random tests. "There is no student who goes through this program who
doesn't have access to treatment if that's necessary," Boos said. THE
DEBATE Student drug-testing programs are seemingly natural magnets for
controversy. Although Polk's grant only provides for student-athlete
testing, the targeting of that group has continued to irk school board
member Brenda Reddout. "I do believe we have a substance abuse problem,"
she said. "And I'm not opposed to drug testing, if we do it across the
board for all students in extracurricular activities." Proponents of the
program, including Boos and school board Chairman Jack English, have said
that the athletes' status as campus role models will influence other
students in a positive manner if they stay clean. Reddout doesn't buy that.
"I think it's a specious argument," she said. "It may have been true 20
years ago, when the folks funding the program were in school, but I don't
believe now overall that student-athletes are major role models on a high
school campus." Another issue is that Polk's program tests athletes for
drugs like marijuana and cocaine, but doesn't screen for steroids or other
performance-enhancing drugs. According to Boos, it's a matter of cost. He
said steroid tests can run as high as $100 or more, while most urinalysis
tests for recreational drugs cost $20-$30. "I wish we could test for steroids.

I know that's a criticism and there's some validity to that," Boos said.
"If we could test all extra-curricular activity kids, and test for
steroids, I think that would be an enhancement to the program, for sure."
If you ask the district's assistant superintendent of human resources,
David Lauer, Polk's drug testing program still has merit. While principal
of George Jenkins High School, Lauer implemented a pilot student-athlete
drug testing program there that ran from 1996-2000. "(Drug testing) helps
to lessen the amount of substance abuse among our teenagers.

It provides a safer environment for athletic competition, and it's nice to
know that your teammates are drug-free, that they can think and react
properly," Lauer said. "It's a legitimate way for students to not use drugs.

It gives the kids an out, it puts it back on the system.

It's a good way to save face with the group." When Lauer initiated the GJHS
program, as a "preventive measure," he said that no prior statistics on
local student drug use were available. But a later analysis of data
collected through surveys showed that drug use at GJHS fell below district
averages during 1996-2000 until the program ended, at which point the
numbers went back up. GJHS' program flagged 18 students in its four-year
run, and Boos points out that all returned to sports after completing their
assessments. But what did the other students think? Jestin Bailey, a 1999
graduate of GJHS, didn't mind submitting to the tests while on the school's
wrestling team. "It never really bothered me. I wasn't doing anything so I
didn't care," said Bailey, 23. "I knew people who were upset about it, but
they were smoking pot. If you don't have anything to worry about, why would
it bother you?" Now the head wrestling coach at GJHS, Bailey said his
feelings on drug testing haven't changed. "If anything, I think it's a good
thing," he said. "If kids are doing drugs and they're on my team, I want to
know and I think their parents would want to know before it leads to
something else." Rob Tysver, a former wrestler, football player and 1997
graduate of GJHS, didn't agree with the drug testing.

He said the program had an adverse impact on the school's "role model"
athletes. "Personally, I didn't do drugs; it felt like you were being
accused of something," said Tysver, 26. "They are almost alienating the
student-athletes. It's already enough pressure to go through school and do
sports, and then you have this additional pressure.

I feel that every student should have an equal chance to be tested."
CONCLUSION Mike Morrow's 17-year-old daughter plays tennis for Lake Wales
High School. He says a drug testing program could help parents and schools
look out for their teens. "There's a lot of stuff that goes on, and if you
can keep a handle on it through an organized process, that makes it easier
than putting it on individual coaches," he said. "It's important, I think
this is something that needs to happen." Barring any unforeseen events,
Polk's drug testing program will happen.

And while being kicked off the team doesn't seem to offer much choice to
student-athletes who object, Lauer maintains that the program could save
futures, if not lives. "I have not ever had a parent criticize the district
or school when their child was caught with drugs.

The amount of peer pressure teenagers are subjected to is phenomenal," he
said. "(The program) develops a culture that this school is a drug-free
place. "You have to start somewhere."