EXPENSE, PRIVACY MAY DETER DRUG TESTS

Cost and privacy concerns could discourage Carolinas schools from expanding
drug-testing programs, school and legal experts say, even though a U.S.
Supreme Court ruling Thursday allows them to be used more broadly than ever.

The 5-4 decision permits middle and high schools to require random drug
tests for students involved in any extracurricular activity. A 1995 Supreme
Court ruling had allowed random drug tests only for student athletes.

Only about a half-dozen N.C. school districts had drug-testing policies in
early 2000, said Ronald Wright, a law professor at Wake Forest University.
He cited costs as among the concerns.

Allison Schafer, legal counsel for the N.C. School Boards Association, said
the number remains low, but she didn't have an exact count.

"There is a cost involved, and it is an intrusion," she said. "It's a
judgment call of whether it is a problem in your specific school system
that warrants that kind of step."

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools doesn't test athletes and has no plans to
start, said Superintendent James Pughsley.

"The conditions here are not such that it would cause us to have ... drug
testing ... for those students who are involved in extracurricular
activities," he said.

Gaston County Schools has drug-tested athletes for three years. A tight
budget could keep them from spending more than the current $15,000 a year,
said Reeves McGlohon, deputy superintendent.

"It forces you to decide ... whether a program of this type is more
important than something that directly relates to the classroom," he said.

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools has required random drug tests for all
extracurricular activities, including athletics, service clubs and the
National Honor Society, since 1998, said school system attorney Doug
Punger. The board adopted testing because of alcohol and drug abuse in the
community, he said.

"(The Supreme Court ruling) eliminates any legal question about the
legality of our program," Punger said.

The program costs $50,000 a year and is paid for by county drug-forfeiture
money. An independent service performs the drug tests. A student who tests
positive is given the option of entering rehabilitation; the school learns
of a positive test only if the student doesn't enroll in rehab.

Other Charlotte-area districts have used random drug tests for student
athletes in recent years, including Caldwell County, Hickory and
Newton-Conover schools. The Iredell-Statesville school system has tested
only athletes since the city and county systems merged in 1991.

Superintendent Phillip McDaniel said Rock Hill School District Three tests
students only when officials suspect drug use.

"If you're going to drug-test, why would you just drug-test those in
athletics or extracurriculars?" he said. "I still think it is a personal
invasion."

Roger Hyatt, assistant superintendent at the Mooresville Graded School
District, said the system doesn't test for drug use and has no plans to begin.

"You'd have your head in the sand if you thought kids in Mooresville don't
sometimes do bad things, but we don't feel at this point that it warrants
doing random drug tests of kids."

The Hickory Public Schools began testing athletes in 1999 because they
represent the school, said board chair Sarah Talbert.

"That same theory could carry over to students who represent our school
system in band or other extracurricular activities," she said.