Pubdate: Tue, 10 Feb 2004
Source: Parkersburg News and Sentinel, The (WV)
Copyright: 2004, The Parkersburg News
Contact:  http://www.newsandsentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1648
Author: Curtis Johnson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States)

CALHOUN DRUG TESTING NOT AFFECTING WINTER SPORTS

MOUNT ZION - Drug testing and spring training will correspond this
year in Calhoun County. That will be when school officials begin
randomly testing its extracurricular activity students for drug use.

The county school board unanimously passed its "Activity Student Drug
Testing" policy in December. Under the new rules students
participating in extracurricular activities are subjected to random
drug testing. The rules impose a range of penalties for testing
positive or refusing to submit to the policy. Although the policy took
effect Feb. 1, School Superintendent Ronald Blankenship said it would
be unfair to force students already participating in an
extracurricular activity to submit to such a policy. The procedure
would include the student and parent signing a consent form before
participation in a school activity.

"I don't really think it's fair to start in the middle of a sport.
You're asking parents to sign something to participate when you've
already got a student participating in something," he said.

That means Red Devil baseball and softball athletes will be the first
students required to submit to the drug testing, Blankenship said.

"I think it's important to let them see that the board is serious
about what they are going to be doing and it gives them an opportunity
to see how everything's going to work from a logistics standpoint," he
said.

Red Devil Athletics Director Tim Davis, who also serves as the
school's basketball and baseball coach, said he has not heard anything
negative concerning the policy.

"It's not a big deal," he said. "It's a policy and it doesn't really
affect my team."

Calhoun County softball coach David White echoed similar sentiments
Monday evening.

"I'm just in a wait-and-see mode at this point," he said. "I don't
expect any problems at all. I just don't see where the girls would
have any problems that fall under that policy."

White said he has not been briefed on the details concerning the
policy. He said he will make any efforts needed for his team to comply
when practice begins in early March.

The county has contracted the services of Medbrook to facilitate the
testing, Blankenship said.

"Everything's in place," he said. "Our board feels very strongly that
if you're representing our school system in any extracurricular
activity that you are to be held to a higher standard."

The policy will affect about 140 seventh-through 12th-grade students.
It will govern Calhoun County Middle and High School students who
interscholastically compete as part of their extracurricular
activities. That group includes athletes and cheerleaders, along with
members of the schools' band, vocal music groups, academic teams, FHA
and FFA organizations.

The drug-testing policy restricts administrators from imposing
suspensions from school or academic sanctions on its offenders.
Instead it outlines the phases of enforcement.

Upon a first offense, the student will be subjected to parental
notification, counseling and a mandatory second drug test within two
weeks of the first offense.

Second-time offenders will face suspension from activities covered
under the policy for 14 calendar days and be required to seek four
hours of counseling. The student will be randomly tested monthly for
the remainder of the school year.

Third-time offenders in the same school year will be subject to a
complete suspension from extracurricular activities for the remainder
of the school year or 90 school days.

As of December 2003, Braxton and Logan counties were the only other
West Virginia counties to pass such a policy.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin