RANDOM DRUG TESTING AT SCHOOLS 'JUST ISN'T GOING TO FLY'

SCHOOLS won't be allowed to randomly test students for drugs and alcohol in
the foreseeable future, Manitoba's leading expert on school safety said
yesterday.

"To say, randomly, we're going to test people, just isn't going to fly.
You're walking on egg shells when you're walking in this area, and most
school boards are willing to drop it," Keith Thomas, risk manager for the
Manitoba Association of School Trustees, said in an interview.

Tuesday evening, Garden Valley School Division trustees decided reluctantly
to drop plans for random drug testing of student athletes at Garden Valley
Collegiate in Winkler.

" 'At this time' was a key phrase," Garden Valley superintendent Dom Wilkins
said yesterday. "They reserved the right to review it at a future time."

Wilkins said trustees were disappointed the provincial ombudsman had
recommended against the proposed random testing.

The division had planned to select students on varsity teams randomly, send
them to a nearby clinic to provide a urine sample, and then have the sample
tested at a lab in Ontario. "They concluded that the rights of the
individual, at this point, superseded the rights of the group," Wilkins
said.

But Thomas warned that random testing is unlikely to be accepted. He said
using sniffer dogs to check out a school's lockers would not fly either.

"The best advice we've given principals, if you have strong suspicions about
someone, you have the right to call in the Mounties or the city police,"
Thomas said. "I really don't think any of our public boards have plans to do
any testing. I warn them, these are very treacherous waters.

"You don't do it on a whim. The parents need to be part and parcel of this,
or you're going to be in trouble."

Wilkins said Garden Valley will work to strengthen its drug and alcohol
abuse policies, and its prevention and cessation programs.

When the Winkler high school received international attention last year for
its testing plans, Wilkins said, several students on varsity teams stepped
forward and admitted they had problems with drugs. He would not say how many
students, but said their problems involved drugs such as marijuana, cocaine
and ecstasy.

Parents were involved, but the school board was not told the names, he said,
and the students were not disciplined. The school helped them into treatment
programs.