DRUG TESTING IN SCHOOLS GOES ONLY HALFWAY

It's way too soon to call drug testing of high school athletes a trend, but
it's certainly no longer a rarity.

Wilmington is among the latest of a slowly growing number of schools to
begin testing its athletes for drugs. Homewood-Flossmoor is believed to be
the first high school in Illinois to conduct required drug testing, which
it instituted in 1990 for athletes.

Few schools jumped on the bandwagon. In a 1995 survey of 375 Illinois
school districts, Western Illinois University professors Max Pierson and
Steven Rittenmeyer found that just three districts tested their athletes
for drugs or intended to.

In a follow-up survey two years ago, however, 31 districts among 515
respondents said they conducted such tests or planned to do so soon. Most
of those 31 were outside the Chicago area.

Wilmington, which is in southwest Will County, began testing its athletes
last summer. Its reasons seem typical for schools with drug- testing
programs--officials don't believe they have a serious drug problem and want
to keep it that way.

"We have the same problems everyone else has at their schools," says
football coach Jeff Reents, a strong advocate of the program. "By the same
token, my being a coach, you do hear things, whether in the locker room or
the hallways, just like you do at any other school.

"You always think, as a coach, what can you do better for kids? The biggest
thing is to give them another reason to say no to drugs.

"We're not trying to hurt any athletes. We do not want to catch a soul."

So far, according to athletic director Matt Swick, they haven't. Three
rounds of testing by the corporate health services division of Kankakee's
Riverside Medical Center have failed to turn up a positive test.

About once every three weeks, 10 percent of Wilmington's athletes--or about
15 in the fall season--are randomly selected for testing for such "street
drugs" as marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines and barbiturates.

Swick says the school does not test for alcohol because it passes through a
person's system so quickly such a test would be ineffective. It also does
not test for performance-enhancing substances such as steroids.

An athlete who tests positive is suspended for 25 percent of the scheduled
events in his or her sport. For a second offense, he or she must miss all
co-curricular activities for a full calendar year and must undergo counseling.

Swick estimates the first-year cost of the program will be $4,000, which
comes mostly from athletic and activity funds and from donations.

Both he and Reents report that response to the program among athletes and
parents has been positive thus far, though the coach acknowledged that some
criticism likely will follow the first positive test result.

Reents realizes many people regard random testing as an invasion of privacy
but said kids will encounter testing sooner or later. He says he was tested
upon being hired at Wilmington and is willing to do so again to show
support for the new program.

"It's our job as coaches and teachers to prepare kids for life after high
school," Reents says. "I don't care what profession you're in, you'll
probably get drug tested."

Right now, though, Wilmington is more open to criticism for what it's not
doing than for what it is doing. Its focus is too narrow as far as whom
it's testing and what it's testing for.

It should, first of all, expand its testing to other extracurricular
activities. Substance abuse is a societal problem, not an athletic one.

In the 2000 Western Illinois survey, 19 of the testing districts said they
tested students in non-athletic extracurricular activities. Thanks to a
Supreme Court decision last June approving random drug testing of any
student involved in extracurricular activities, that number likely will
grow. A 1995 decision had allowed testing of athletes.

Secondly, Wilmington should find a way to check for alcohol use. Some
schools, including Ottawa, do test for alcohol, which is a more common
threat to teens' health and safety than are street drugs.

For Wilmington and schools like it, testing more students for more
substances will cost more money.

The concern officials at those schools have for student safety is
commendable, but if they are really serious about it, they need to do more
than pursue athletes smoking pot.