STUDENT-ATHLETES AT AREA DISTRICTS SUBJECTED TO RANDOM TESTING

Drug testing at three school districts in the area has deterred many high
school student-athletes from doing drugs, at least during their athletic
seasons, school officials say.

Only 10 students from the thousands of tests administered in recent years
have tested positive, they said.

Hardin County, Elizabethtown Independent and LaRue County schools are among
only 10 of Kentucky's roughly 160 school districts that test athletes for
drugs, according to the state Center for School Safety. After testing
thousands of athletes, area athletic directors say testing works - not to
catch students, but to give them one more reason to say no to drugs.

"We wanted to do something for the kids, not against them," said Doug
Barnes, Elizabethtown High School's athletic director.

In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it was not unconstitutional for
schools to require athletes and other extracurricular activity participants
to submit to drug tests.

At most area high schools, it has been three or four years since a test
returned positive for drug use.

"It has worked because kids know it is in place," said Alan Campbell, North
Hardin High School's athletic director. "Hopefully, it prevents them from
even doing it at all."

Elizabethtown started testing students almost 10 years ago, and Hardin
County Schools began in 2000. The testing occurs during all three athletic
seasons - fall, winter and spring.

The companies that conduct the tests choose athletes at random. Some
athletes can be tested more than once. The testing occurs at each school.

"I've had kids tested 12 times a year because they play all three seasons,"
Barnes said.

In Hardin County Schools, students who test positive will first be required
to participate in a six-week counseling program that includes weekly
testing and additional drug testing every 60 days, as long as the student
is a member of a sports team. In addition, the student would be suspended
for 10 days from all athletic events, excluding practices.

The student could opt instead to be suspended from all athletic events for
the remainder of the current season and the next athletic season for all
sports.

Second-time offenders are suspended from all athletics, including
practices, for 12 months and third-time offenders would be barred from
sports for the remainder of their high school careers.

Elizabethtown and LaRue County impose similar consequences.

Students had mixed reactions to drug testing at first, but most now
consider it part of their athletic season.

The only thing they still complain about is they said they feel they are
singled out as athletes, Campbell said.

John Hardin High School junior Madeline Kitchens, a cross-country runner
and tennis player, said she doesn't mind testing because she has nothing to
worry about. She questions why any athlete would want to take drugs.

"In sports, you want to have every advantage over your competitors,"
Kitchens said. "You don't want them to step all over you (because you use
drugs)."

Money is an issue with school boards of late, and the testing is not cheap.
Each drug test costs roughly $20. Elizabethtown High School spends about
$10,000 a year, and Hardin County Schools more than double that.

But athletic directors at the schools said there are no plans to scrap testing.

"We think at Central Hardin the cost of testing students is very
justifiable," said Kenny Lane, Central Hardin High School's athletic director.

Barnes agrees.

"I applaud our board for staying with it," he said. "In the time of limited
budgets, they could have easily gotten rid of it.

"But they really care about these students and keeping drugs out of our
schools."