MORE STUDENT DRUG TESTS POSSIBLE AT DISTRICT

The Policy, Endorsed By Thursday's Supreme Court Ruling, Could Be
Incorporated Into The Zero-Tolerance Rules.

NEWPORT-MESA -- At least one member of the Newport-Mesa Unified School
District Board of Trustees says random drug testing on students
participating in extracurricular activities could be adopted as early as
this year.

The testing could be rolled into the district's zero-tolerance policy,
which lays out standards for student conduct.

Trustee Serene Stokes called for the testing Friday, one day after the U.S.
Supreme Court, in a ruling, endorsed it for high school and middle school
students.

"It will probably be incorporated [into that policy]," Stokes said. "If we
find the student is using drugs, we may transfer them, but we also insist
they get drug treatment."

If the district goes ahead with the testing, anyone from the high school
quarterback walking onto the football field to the seventh-grader heading
to his first school dance could be asked to submit to a urinalysis test.

Students found to be using marijuana, cocaine, steroids or other illegal
substances can be expelled or transferred to other district schools.

The district's zero-tolerance policy has long been a controversial rule
because of its hard-line standards. It calls for the immediate suspension
and transfer of any student caught with, or under the influence of, drugs
or alcohol. Most recently, the board added an anti-bullying provision.

On Thursday, the high court upheld the drug testing policy by a school
board in Tecumseh, Okla. That board implemented the policy in 1998 after
members voiced concerns about drug use in the district.

Newport-Mesa officials have been randomly testing student athletes, Stokes
said.

One parent, Michelle Mutzke, said she supported drug testing and agreed
that athletes shouldn't be singled out. Mutzke's daughter plays tennis at
Corona del Mar High School.

"I think drug testing is a good idea," said Mutzke, also a past president
of the Corona del Mar High School PTA. "I just wonder how you do it fairly
without some parent going ballistic."

The high court, in 1995, upheld a ruling allowing testing of athletes.

Trustee Dana Black took a somewhat more cautious approach than Stokes.
Black said she needs more information about how the policy would be
implemented before she endorses it.

"I'd like to make sure we're consistent," Black said. "I don't want to be
drug testing every child."

It remains unclear what specific substances the school could test for. One
area that remains murky is the use of growth supplements by high school
athletes. Some of these substances have been suspected of having adverse
health effects.

Black said her own son had asked her, several years ago, if he could use
the growth supplement creatine. Major league slugger Mark McGwire admitted
to using the substance in 1998, when he slugged a then-record 70 home runs.

After some exhaustive research, Black said she urged her son against the
use of the substance.