MORE WJC STUDENTS AGREE TO DRUG TESTS

JAMES CITY - WJC's voluntary drug testing program might not be as
controversial as it originally seemed.

Steve Chantry, director of student services, said that while
responses were down slightly this year, the number of students who
consented to be in the testing pool increased. He attributes the
increase to the fact that the program is a year old now and people
have had time to see that it was never designed to get students in trouble.

"We had 4,569 students return forms," he said. "Of those 1,851 said yes."

About 80% of secondary students in WJC returned the consent forms
sent home with them at the beginning of the school year. Nearly 33%
agreed to participate.

Both the student and parent must sign the form, even if the student
doesn't participate. Chantry said he's glad to see that the number
of returned forms is still so high, closely mirroring last year.

"We hope that means, no matter the response, that they (the family)
had a conversation about drug use," he said.

The program is not punitive. Students are chosen for testing at
random and the tests are conducted on site at the school once or
twice a month. If a test is positive, the parents and student are
contacted by the lab within four days and information on options is
made available to them.

"We're still keeping the names of those who say yes or no
confidential so as to not put pressure on anyone either way,"
Chantry said. "We want this to be a family decision."

Last year, 181 students were tested, and five tested positive. Those
five were later verified as legitimate positives resulting from the
use of prescription medication. No positive tests were a result of
substance abuse. The lab also reported that no specimens had been
tampered with.

So far this year just 30 students have been tested. Chantry said he
could not release testing results at this time because it could
compromise the secret testing schedule.

The division's goal is to test approximately 15% of the testing pool
each year.