GOSHEN SCHOOLS CONSIDER DRUG TESTING REVIVAL

GOSHEN -- Goshen students who play in the band or run on the track team
might soon have to take a drug test to continue participating in their
extracurricular activities.

School officials are discussing whether to reinstate random drug testing in
Goshen Community Schools for high school and middle school students
participating in extracurricular and cocurricular activities. The policy
also would apply to student drivers.

The request to reinstate testing was initiated by the athletic department
to deter students from using drugs and tobacco.

Athletic Director Larry Kissinger said that when drug testing was
discontinued two years ago, drug use among athletes increased.

"The coaches had noticed a significant increase in those who were using,"
Kissinger said. "They thought that kids might not have been performing up
to their level."

Before the test was suspended, tobacco was the most commonly found
substance in positive random drug tests at Goshen schools, Kissinger said.

Goshen schools, along with others in the area, suspended drug testing two
years ago after the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled that random drug testing
violated the Fourth Amendment, banning unreasonable searches. The case
involved the Northwestern School Corp. near Kokomo.

Before the ruling, Goshen tested students from June 1999 through August
2000. Once a student had participated in an extracurricular event, his or
her name was put in a pool of students who could be tested for the rest of
the year. Ten students, which included two from Goshen Middle School, were
tested every two weeks.

Goshen is not alone in the push to reinstate random drug testing. Other
schools in the area are wrestling with the issue. The Concord Community
School Corp. is considering reinstating drug testing, and Warsaw High
School has recently decided to test students.

Other school districts that suspended drug testing, such as Penn-
Harris-Madison, have no plans to reinstate drug testing soon. According to
P-H-M's attorney Jim Olson, the school is waiting for a further court decision.

The Indiana Supreme Court is reviewing the Northwestern school case, a
court clerk verified.

Olson said the state Supreme Court has heard oral arguments on the case,
but he speculated the justices are waiting on another court before they
issue an opinion. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on a similar
random drug testing case from Tecumseh, Okla.

In the Oklahoma case, school officials tested all students wanting to
participate in extracurricular events and required that they agree to be
tested randomly in the future. Arguments for that case are scheduled for
March 19.

P-H-M is facing a lawsuit of its own, filed by parents and children who
believe their rights are being violated by random drug testing. Even though
it is now legal to re-instate drug testing, any school who does before the
high court's decision runs the risk of facing a similar lawsuit.

Robert Duell, assistant superintendent of Goshen schools, said lawsuits
against the school are not an issue since there is already one case in the
courts already.

"This is totally legal," he said. "There's always people who can present
lawsuits, but it's not usual."

Kissinger says the only risk lies in the higher court's decision.

"Twenty-five or 26 other schools in Indiana have reinstated it," Kissinger
said. "The risk you take is you do all the legwork to institute your policy
and the court rules against the testing," he said.

The Goshen School Board could decide on the issue as early as Monday at its
next meeting.