Pubdate: Tue, 06 May 2003
Source: Virginian-Pilot (VA)
Copyright: 2003, The Virginian-Pilot
Contact:  http://www.pilotonline.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/483
Author: Christina Nuckols, The Virginian-Pilot
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/walters.htm (Walters, John)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

KILGORE ENCOURAGES DRUG TESTS IN SCHOOLS

RICHMOND -- Public school systems in Virginia should seriously consider 
adopting policies enabling them to test students for drug use, Attorney 
General Jerry W. Kilgore said Monday after meeting with the nation's drug czar.

"We're not forcing it upon anyone, but we're certainly encouraging school 
districts to look at it, work with us and recognize the problems and the 
need to intervene in the lives of children," Kilgore said in a press 
conference, where he was joined by John P. Walters, the director of 
national drug control policy.

Only two school systems in Virginia -- Lynchburg and Salem -- have adopted 
drug-testing programs, according to state education officials. Both limit 
the random tests to students participating in athletics. No schools in 
South Hampton Roads perform drug tests.

In a 2002 survey by The Virginian-Pilot of nearly 1,000 local high school 
seniors, 42 percent of respondents said they had used marijuana, up from 37 
percent the year before.

Kilgore stopped short of calling for testing at all schools. He said drug 
tests may one day be implemented in a majority of Virginia schools, but 
added, "That's years away." The General Assembly this year passed a law 
requiring the State Board of Education to adopt guidelines for voluntary 
and mandatory drug testing. The new law does not require local school 
boards to test students for drugs, but it imposes state regulations on all 
new and existing programs.

The Board of Education is scheduled to consider proposed guidelines this fall.

Walters said the Virginia law is the first of its kind in the country.

The White House drug czar said testing should be used to prevent children 
from taking illegal drugs and to identify those who need treatment. He said 
school-testing programs should not be punitive.

"No one makes a career in law enforcement slam dunking 15-year-olds with 
baggies of marijuana," he said.

Lynchburg's testing program, started in 1990, is the oldest in the state. 
Student athletes and entire teams are chosen at random by a school employee 
for weekly tests.

School Superintendent James T. McCormick said the district spends about 
$40,000 annually for the tests, with part of the cost offset through a 
grant. He said the number of positive tests has ranged from two to 13 annually.

McCormick said students who test positive are suspended from athletics for 
two weeks while they are assessed to determine whether they need treatment. 
Although the testing is confidential, he said, suspensions can generate 
rumors among the student body.

The most extensive drug-testing program in Virginia is at Benedictine High 
School, a private, parochial school in Richmond, where students, faculty 
and staff are randomly tested each month.

Civil rights groups have not challenged those programs, but the legal 
director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia said random 
testing raises a red flag with her organization.

"There are always concerns when school officials undertake to do drug 
testing without any showing of reasonable suspicion of probable cause," 
said Rebecca Glenberg. "It's just a gross invasion of privacy."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager