PETOSKEY DISCUSSES STUDENT DRUG TESTS

PETOSKEY - If parents in this school district have their way, the battle
against student drug and alcohol abuse won't likely be waged using urine
samples or other drug screening methods. It will be won by teaching better
parenting and communication skills and letting children know how much
they're valued in the community.

More than 250 parents, teachers, administrators and students attended a
community forum hosted by the Petoskey school board to discuss student drug
and alcohol abuse and how random drug testing might help combat the problem
on Monday.

Several community leaders spoke at the forum, including law enforcement
officials and representatives from an area substance abuse treatment agency
and the courts.

While a few parents told school officials they would support random drug
screening, the majority said they favored less drastic measures.

Susan Wilhelm, mother of two, told school officials she feels random drug
testing would alienate the student body.

"I feel it's an invasion of privacy," Wilhelm said. "You may not touch my
children or collect physical specimens from them without my consent."

Wilhelm and many others said they feel drug and alcohol abuse problems
start at home, and they advocate putting more resources towards building
self-esteem and finding out why students start abusing substances in the
first place.

Chris Neill, a junior at Petoskey High School, said he agreed that random
drug testing in his school won't solve the problem.

"It's just not going to work. This is a home-based issue," Neill said. "If
a parent wants to drug test, then they should drug test at home, on their
own time, for their own reasons and using their own money."

Several parents said they took issue with the school district's current
stance on substance abuse, which includes random drug dog sweeps and an
on-site presence of Petoskey Department of Public Safety Officer Randy
Weston, the school's liaison officer. They said they believe such measures
are adversarial and diminish how students feel they're being perceived by
the community.

However, Dr. Gustav Lo, a parent and local family physician, told school
officials he'd heard only positive feedback from students regarding
Weston's presence at the school, and felt the officer helped dispel
negative portrayals of law enforcement officials. Weston has also helped
foster a more healthy relationship between police and students, Lo added.

Lo urged parents and others in the crowd not to focus so much on the
highly-charged issue of drug testing for a while.

"Table the whole drug screening issue," Lo advised. "Then we can all step
back and take a breather and maybe come up with some more positive solutions."

The forum was called by school board members who were concerned over
results of a survey taken anonymously by Petoskey High School students in
grades 9-12 during the 1999-2000 school year. Conducted by the Tri-Ethnic
Center for Prevention and Research at Colorado State University, the survey
revealed in part that 48 percent of seniors and 28 percent of freshman had
smoked marijuana at some time, leading school officials to believe their
existing substance abuse policy may not be adequate.

District Superintendent John Jeffrey said currently Grand Blanc schools are
the only district in the state with a random drug testing policy, and they
are being sued by the Michigan Civil Liberties Union.

School officials in Petoskey plan to hold other forums to continue the
discussion on what such policy, if any, would be best-suited to students in
their district. The next forum will be held at 7 p.m., Oct. 8, at Petoskey
Middle School.