STUDENT DRUG POLICY COULD BE ACCELERATED

The wait-and-see year might shrink to the wait-and-see semester for the
only Pittsburgh-area school district with mandatory student drug testing.

In the first year of a drug-testing policy for student athletes and
students who want to park on campus, Seneca Valley School District
officials had said they wanted to see how the first year of the program
worked before considering any expansion.

School directors approved a drug-testing policy in July that forced
students who want to drive to school or play sports to pass a drug
screening. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that drug testing any
student involved in extracurricular activities was constitutional. At that
time, school officials said they did not have enough time to answer
questions about how much more an expanded policy would cost or how it would
be implemented.

Board President Dean Berkebile said the program has run so smoothly that
implementing an expanded program should be manageable and could begin
immediately.

The board has asked the administration to provide estimates for the cost of
expanding the program on a limited basis. The next phase could include
testing students in marching band, the band and students in the all-school
musical, or all students involved in extracurricular activities.

"We have gotten a significant amount of feedback," board member John Mitro
said. "Most of the kids and parents have told me they think this was a
tremendous step."

Mitro said if all the extracurricular activities are included, the pool
could grow by 500 students.

The board will discuss expanding the policy at 6:30 p.m. today in the
intermediate high school auditorium. They also could vote to expand the
program.

Mitro said the policy can be amended that quickly because the board is not
making a radical change to the policy, and they are talking about including
a group that can legally be drug tested.

Board President Dean Berkebile said he did not have any idea how many more
students the policy would reach if it was expanded to all extracurricular
activities. The expanded testing would increase the program's reach to
junior high and intermediate school students who do not drive and don't
play sports.

School administrators budgeted $40,000 for the testing this year which
covered 1,300 students. Mitro said he did not know how the increased pool
would affect the cost.

He said even if the increased pool added another $20,000 to the testing
budget, it would still be worth the money spent.

Since the start of school, more than 200 students have been randomly
tested, yielding three positives. Among the 1,234 students initially
tested, three more came up positive. The district does not name the
student, the substance or whether it was a student driver or student
athlete who failed the test.

Parents pay $26 for the initial test.

Of the 7,600 students in the district, about 3,300 are in the secondary grades.

Because the marching band is in the middle of its season, its members would
not have to pass an initial test but would immediately be inserted into the
random pool. Students involved in concert band or any music-related class
that is graded would not have to take a drug test. Federal law says
students in graded classes can not be tested.

The district covers the cost of weekly random tests. Since the initial
tests, 40 to 45 athletes and parking permit holders have been randomly
selected for testing each week from grades 7 through 12.

The first positive results in a 14-day suspension from sports or of parking
privileges. The violation can be removed from a student's record by passing
12 monthly tests and attending drug counseling.

The second offense would lead to a year-long suspension of privileges. A
third positive test in a six-year period would mean a permanent suspension
from sports or a permanent loss of a parking pass. The same rules would
apply to any other activities included in the testing program.

"It is still up for discussion as to whether we include more students in
the testing program," Mitro said.