ATHLETES MIGHT FACE DRUG TESTS

A La Crosse School District committee is discussing whether to start drug
testing high school athletes. Todd Fischer, co-chairman of the district's
Co-Curricular Committee and athletic director at Logan High School, told
members of the District Wide Parent Committee Tuesday night that he began
looking at drug testing at the end of the 2001-02 school year because a
"large number" of student athletes were suspended for drugs.

Fischer said the Co-Curricular Committee met with parents and students to
talk about drug use, and students reported that at least 50 to 60 percent
of athletes are using drugs. Marijuana is the drug of choice, he added.

"The students there said there is a problem and parents there need to look
at it," he said. "If we don't go anywhere with (drug testing), at least
we've discussed it and looked at it."

Fischer said testing proponents support the move because drugs are illegal
and cause memory and learning problems for students. Drug testing helps
students make smart choices, he added.

But there are also risks, he said, especially when it comes to privacy
issues, possible decline in sports participation and negative school image.

In June 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 to allow random drug tests
for all middle and high school students participating in extracurricular
activities, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Fischer said a 2002 assets survey of this year's freshmen and juniors
showed 43 percent of La Crosse students surveyed used alcohol one or more
times in the 30 days prior to the survey; and 26 percent used marijuana in
the prior year. "Legally, you have to show there is a need," Fischer said.
"I think these numbers could support it."

Several Wisconsin school districts conduct random drug testing through
urine samples, he said. The average cost is $50 for a test that checks for
five drugs, including marijuana. If approved La Crosse would likely spend
$10,000 on a drug testing program, which could be implemented in the next
two or three years, he said.

Mark Taylor, a program therapist at Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center who
works with La Crosse School District adolescents who have used drugs, said
he doesn't use drug testing too often in his practice.

He said drug use signifies other underlying issues, and there are better
ways to help those students with the money it costs for drug testing.

"Drug testing is a tool, but it is not the answer," he said.

Taylor said he worked in a New Mexico school that used random drug testing
that also applied to administrators and teachers. He recommended La Crosse
does that, too, if it decides to test.

Taylor said not all drug users become addicts, and teenagers who use drugs
need to be included in more extracurricular activities because kids who
stay involved do better in school.

"It's normal for kids to experiment," he added.

Central principal Tom Barth, also a member of the WIAA Board of Control,
said the WIAA has not taken a position on the issue because it prefers to
set minimum standards and let each district decide whether to make those
standards more rigid.

Fischer asked the parent committee if it would support drug testing like it
did canine searches for drugs in the high schools. The committee decided
not to make a recommendation Tuesday, and instead referred the issue to its
January meeting.