STUDY RENEWS CONWAY DRUG-TEST DEBATE

Inspired by a new nationwide study reporting that drug testing does little
to curb student drug use, a Conway man says he wants the Conway School
District to reconsider its drug-testing policy.

But board members, who voted 4-3 in August to approve a policy to randomly
test students involved in extracurricular activities, have no plans to
reconsider, School Board President Terry Fiddler said.

So far, less than a year after implementation, administrators consider the
program a success, Fiddler said.

Bruce Plopper opposes student drug tests in the Conway district and cites a
federally funded study conducted by researchers at the Institute for Social
Research at the University of Michigan. The study looked at combined data
from surveys completed in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001, including responses
from 76,000 students at 722 secondary schools.

With each grade level studied, including eighth, 10th and 12th grades,
researchers concluded that there was virtually no difference between the
number of cases of drug use in schools that performed drug tests and in
those that don't.

For example, according to the study, published in the April 2003 issue of
the Journal of School Health, in 12th grade, 36 percent of those in
nontesting schools reported using marijuana at least once in 12 months,
compared to 37 percent of students at schools that test for drugs.

For Plopper, one of three parents who sued the school district over the
drug-testing policy, the latest study proves that drug testing doesn't
work. "The University of Michigan study tells me that all of the school
districts in Arkansas need to revisit the idea that drug testing is a
useful tool," Plopper said, adding that though the lawsuit was thrown out
in January, he and the other two parents plan to refile soon. "It tells me,
'Let's go ahead with drug education rather than drug testing.' I think
there are far better ways to spend scarce financial resources to get the
job done."

Plopper wrote letters to School Board members saying he would drop the
lawsuit if, in light of the study, the district ends its policy of randomly
testing students involved in extracurricular activities.

But Fiddler, who voted against the policy, said he has no plans to revisit
the issue unless the administration or other board members request it. "I
have already made my point on this issue I am not going to be the one to
vote to discuss it again," said Fiddler. "Now that it's a policy, I'm going
to back it."

Since the policy was implemented, the district has completed two rounds of
testing, one in December and one in February, said Gerald Harrison,
director of secondary education for Conway schools.

Of 160 students tested in seventh through 12th grades during the 2002-03
school year, one student tested positive for marijuana use, said Harrison.
That student was not allowed to participate in extracurricular activities
for 20 days and was required to undergo counseling, Harrison said. "He did
his counseling, retested on the 21st day and was clean," Harrison said. "To
me, that's a success story."

Conway Superintendent James Robbins said he also is pleased with how drug
testing has worked out in Conway schools.

The fact that Plopper has now found a study that supports his beliefs is no
reason to reconsider the policy, Robbins said.

"My thoughts are that previously he had wanted us to hold off for the
results of the Oregon study," he said, referring to a pilot study released
in February that found that students at two high schools subjected to
random drug tests were four times less likely to use illegal drugs.

"When that study was completed, it just reinforced that yes, you ought to
be drug testing," Robbins said. "Now this Michigan study has come out and
supposedly it is a much larger database and they tested a lot more kids,
and is therefore much more valid. Whether it is or not, I'm not convinced."

Though he said he may never be able to accurately measure how successful
the program is at deterring student drug use, Robbins said the policy is a
good one, if for no other reason than it gives students another way to say
no to drugs. "I know it helped create an atmosphere with our kids, that
they were much more aware of the fact that they could be randomly selected.

How much that does to prevent [student drug use]? We will never know the
full impact," he said. "But it is a way to offer an opportunity for kids to
say, 'I don't want to do that because I might be tested.' It should help a
good kid not to be experimenting or not to be pressured to be doing
something he doesn't want to do." Plopper said that is not a good enough
reason for schools to participate in what he considers "emotionally abusive
behavior."

"The bottom line is it would be most responsible to stop drug testing
nationwide and spend the money on research-based drug education programs,"
he said. "It is irresponsible to put our money into a program proven not to
work."

About a third of the state's 310 school districts - including Greenbrier,
Vilonia and Mayflower in Faulkner County - have some form of drug testing.
The Little Rock, Pulaski County Special and North Little Rock districts do
not.

Ray Simon, director of the state Department of Education, said the decision
on whether or not to implement drug testing rests with local school boards.
The department has no plans to begin regulating such decisions, Simon said.

Robbins said that unless the state or the U.S. Supreme Court tells him
otherwise, other school districts' decisions on whether or not to drug test
will not change his belief that drug testing is a good policy for Conway.
"Different individual communities are doing different things to address
drug problems," he said. "This is one of our ways to address it."

Next year, school administrators plan to try to complete four tests a year
- - one every quarter, Robbins said.