DISTRICT PURSUES DRUG TESTING

The Lake Shore School Board isn't giving up on requiring drug testing for
students in extracurricular activities.

Its members think that it may take more time than they originally thought.

"It's not going to happen this fall," said Barbara Schmitt, the board
member who is likely to take the issue before the New York State School
Boards Association. "We want something proactive rather than reactive,
because right now our policy is reactive."

The board took up the issue during a retreat in June - after the U.S.
Supreme Court upheld a Tecumseh, Okla., school's policy of requiring random
drug testing for students involved in extracurricular activities ranging
from sports to band to Future Farmers. When the board met July 25, it was
ready to pass a policy similar to the one in Tecumseh.

"It wasn't like we had gotten a lot of complaints about drugs," said board
President Bill Connors. "But it would have been a very good barometer on
the community. Wouldn't it have been great if it came up with very little?

"We were going to take a leadership role. But we didn't get to that position."

That's because even though the Supreme Court says the testing is
constitutional, New York State doesn't allow it. Education Commissioner
Richard Mills has indicated in past cases that his interpretation of state
codes is that parents can't be forced to agree to drug testing for their
children before the students participate.

The state level is where the work starts, said Lake Shore's attorney
Phillip Brothman. One of the district's options is a late submission to the
the New York State School Board Association convention in Syracuse in
October seeking support for changes in the state law. "The State School
Board Association's attorney, Jay Wrona, said he would work with us if you
want to do that," Brothman said. "The strength of that is that if it was
passed by the school boards, it would be a recommendation to the
commissioner and might hold some weight."

Schmidt, the board's representative to the New York State School Board
Association, said late submissions don't usually receive much
consideration, but she hopes to build a coalition of schools backing a change.