SOME OFFENDED, SOME ARE FOR IT

The rumors began to circulate around St. Viator High School around
spring break -- that all students would be required to submit to drug
testing next fall.

Initially, the reaction among the student body was largely negative,
a group of juniors at the Arlington Heights school said Tuesday, the
day the new policy was formally announced.

"I thought it was kind of a personal invasion of privacy," said
junior Cara Condon, who was interviewed along with her peers with a
school official present. "I was definitely initially surprised, and I
didn't think that was an action the school would take."

Condon, of Itasca, said she was also originally "offended" at the
idea of being tested. And she still has issues with it -- even though
she, like the other students interviewed Tuesday, said they weren't
personally worried about passing the test.

"It is not the responsibility of the school to take a drug test," she
said. "It should be the responsibility of parents if they want to
know that information about their kids."

When she first heard the rumors, junior Emily Lagattuta was initially
doubtful the school would ever implement the policy.

Now that it's in place, Legattuta, of Arlington Heights, predicted it
will have its intended effect: decreasing student drug use.

Jim Platania, an Arlington Heights resident and basketball player,
said he believes the policy has also been established for another
reason: to preserve the school image.

He, too, said he originally didn't agree with the idea of mandatory
testing.

But, he noted, "if you don't like the policy of St. Viator, you can
go somewhere else."

Football player Emmett Cleary of Arlington Heights is familiar with
drug-testing since football players have already had to undergo
testing to be eligible to play.

"I have heard scattered opinions," he said. "People are saying the
school is overstepping their boundaries, and [I have] even [heard]
some constitutional arguments against the testing."

Student-athlete Matt O'Malley of Des Plaines said he views the new
policy as largely positive, saying that if football players have to
be tested, other students should as well.

"I think that, overall, the testing is for the better of the school
and community," he said, "and [it] helps us prepare for the future."