Pubdate: Sun, 20 Aug 2006
Source: Duluth News-Tribune (MN)
Copyright: 2006 Duluth News-Tribune
Contact:  http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/553
Author: Rick Weegman, News Tribune Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States)

RANDOM DRUG TESTING TO BEGIN AT SUPERIOR HIGH

Testing: Atheletes, Students With Parking Permits and Others In 
Co-Curricular Activities Are Subject to the Tests.

"It's really about changing the climate of our school," activities 
director Ray Kosey said. "We want the kids who are saying no to drugs 
and alcohol to be the majority.... the longer you can keep kids from 
using drugs, the less likely they are to get hooked on them. 
Hopefully down the road, it changes the climate of our community, too."

Athletes won't be the only ones subject to testing. All students 
involved in a co-curricular activity, such as debate or band, are 
included -- as are students who buy a school parking permit. A third 
test group is comprised of students who have volunteered for the 
tests and have pledged to not use drugs.

"If this goes off the way we hope, it's going to help," Superior 
principal Kent Bergum said. "This will help students make better 
decisions. Ultimately, it creates an environment in the school where 
they want to be."

Bergum cited recent surveys that show seniors didn't believe Superior 
has maintained a drug-free environment. Of those surveyed, 35.5 
percent said the school's policy needed improvement and 29 percent 
said it was below average; 3.5 percent said the policy was excellent.

"For the last three years, our seniors, through their exit surveys, 
have been telling us that our school climate dealing with drugs needs 
to improve," Bergum said. "We're hearing from our students that this 
is a concern."

Testing will begin in mid-September or early October. Officials said 
between 10 and 15 students per week will be randomly chosen to submit 
a urine sample and take a Breathalyzer exam. Testing will be 
conducted by the school nurse, with the results examined by an 
independent lab, which is expected to report back within 24 hours.

Ten substances, including marijuana, methadone, amphetamines, 
barbiturates, cocaine and alcohol, will be tested for.

Steroids, banned by the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic 
Association, aren't part of the testing. Officials say costs are 
prohibitive to test for them.

If a co-curricular member tests positive for drugs or alcohol, the 
student must sit out one-fourth of the season; members of the second 
test group would lose their parking privileges; and the volunteer 
group members would lose status in that group.

If a student declines to be tested, he or she would be banned from 
co-curricular activities for one year; others would lose parking privileges.

"I think it's a great program just because if an athlete is going to 
be doing any drinking or drugs or something like that, they shouldn't 
even attempt to play sports," senior football player Max Phillips 
said. "I definitely don't want them on my team."

Reviews Mixed

Not all Superior students are in favor of the policy.

"I think it's stupid because it's none of the school's business what 
you do outside of school," said junior Robb Frechette, who doesn't 
plan to join an extracurricular activity or park at the school and 
therefore wouldn't be subject to tests. "All my friends think it's 
stupid, too."

Others believe it will enhance the school's image.

"I think the policy is going to have a positive impact in the 
community because there is a big problem at the school," said junior 
Jozie Nummi, a member of Future Business Leaders of America, the 
Gay-Straight Alliance and the school's mock trial and swim teams.

Nummi says students will benefit because it prepares them for the 
real world, in which companies routinely use drug screens.

"As a minor, we can give up some of our privacy," she said. "It will 
give us a better reputation as a school as well."

Senior Garrett Vollmer, who has participated in mock trial and other 
extracurricular programs, says Superior's perceived drug problem is 
not as bad as some say. But Vollmer, one of a dozen Superior students 
who toured Kimberly High School in east-central Wisconsin and 
questioned administrators about their program, believes the system 
has advantages.

"Starting out, I was skeptical," Vollmer said. "It might take a 
little while, but I think it will eventually work."

"I would like to think there's a consequence when kids engage in a 
behavior that's detrimental to them," said Paul Zollver, a marketing 
teacher and Superior's DECA coach. "We're looking for alternatives 
for kids. We know that if kids stay away from drugs and alcohol, they 
will be more productive.

"By having the random testing, it will provide one more reason to 
avoid that type of situation."

Whether other Wisconsin and Minnesota schools follow suit is 
uncertain. Northwestern High School principal Steven High said his 
school is holding off.

Bob DeMeyer, a former Northwestern football coach who is beginning 
his first season at Superior, believes his new school is making the 
right choice.

"We'd be foolish to think there's not a problem; it's a problem in 
every school," DeMeyer said. "Whether it's one kid doing it or 1,000 
kids doing it, it's something that needs to be addressed. I know 
they've done their research and I think we're definitely going in the 
right direction."

Kimberly Model

Superior's program closely models Kimberly's. Superior Superintendent 
Jay Mitchell toured Kimberly's new high school, where he heard about 
the drug policy from superintendent Mel Lightner. Eventually, a 
community group formed in Superior to discuss how to best implement 
such a policy.

"It wasn't necessarily an 'I-got-you' attitude," Mitchell said. "It 
was about creating an environment where they don't have to be exposed 
to those things."

Mitchell said there was little resistance at three community meetings.

"The big issue is the invasion of personal privacy," he said. "But 
most parents felt like they would like to know if their kids were 
involved in at-risk behavior rather than (worry about) the privacy issue."

With tests costing approximately $22.50 each, Mitchell appropriated 
$15,000 from the 2006-07 school year's administrative budget. That 
cost included purchasing a Breathalyzer.

"We (originally) weren't going to test for alcohol at all, but the 
students said we had to," Mitchell said.

Superior has applied for federal aid and is waiting to see if it 
receives any grant money. Kimberly does not receive any aid.

Kimberly principal Mike Rietveld, whose school is entering its fifth 
year of drug tests, said about 300 students are tested yearly, but 
alcohol isn't tested for. Rietveld said there are now fewer 
infractions by athletes, and expulsions, which numbered 12 one year 
before the testing, have gone down.

"It's hard to gauge what a success is, but we feel it's made a 
difference," he said.

Superior is a much larger school, with about 1,630 students in grades 
9-12. Kosey estimates 60 percent of the students are involved in a 
co-curricular activity, which, combined with the other test groups, 
means a vast majority of Superior's student body will be subject to testing.

"We don't know if we have any more drugs in our building than other 
schools around here, but there was a group of kids that wanted to do 
something about it," Kosey said.

Bergum, entering his sixth year as principal, said he is most excited 
about the volunteer group.

"That's the one that we saw from Kimberly that holds the most promise 
because it starts to get at that culture," he said. "If students view 
this as something that makes a better school -- and they are telling 
us that they don't like it here as far as that component -- then that 
group has a lot of power because it will be open to everybody."

Steroid Testing

It may take time before steroids are included.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 
6.1 percent, or nearly 300,000 U.S. high school students, used 
steroids without a doctor's prescription at least once in 2003. A 
similar study that year in New Jersey found that state's total at 3.1 percent.

That prompted New Jersey to become the first state to institute a 
statewide steroid-testing policy for high school athletes. That 
measure was passed in June and takes effect at all tournaments this fall.

"New Jersey will serve as a model plan for other states," said Robert 
F. Kanaby, executive director of the National Federation of State 
High School Associations.

New Jersey's plan calls for random testing of athletes who have 
qualified individually or with their team for state championships. 
Positive tests would require a one-year loss of eligibility.

According to the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic 
Association, about 500 of the approximately 10,000 athletes would be 
tested. Each test is expected to cost between $150 and $200. The 
state and the NJSIAA each will contribute $50,000 toward the yearly total.

Those costs make testing in Minnesota and Wisconsin impossible at this time.

"When you talk about doing that at a statewide level, you run into 
problems of 'Where do you get the funding?' " WIAA communications 
director Todd Clark said.

The WIAA has chosen the route of educating students against taking 
banned substances; Clark says the WIAA isn't convinced that testing is best.

"Is it going to be a deterrent? We're not sure it's going to be a 
deterrent. Only time will tell," he said. "What's more effective, 
education or testing? Most times you will find education is the most 
effective. We're going the education route."

Jody Redman, an associate director with the Minnesota State High 
School League, said the league's Sports Medicine Advisory Committee 
has recommended in the past not to institute mandatory testing.

"National statistics state there's not a huge use of steroids in this 
part of the country," Redman said.

William Roberts, a doctor with the Department of Family Practice and 
Community Health at the University of Minnesota Medical School, 
doubts whether New Jersey's plan will work. He says tests should be 
done in the offseason when athletes would be using steroids to bulk 
up, not during state tournaments when performance-enhancing drugs 
would already have left their system.

"When do football players use steroids? In May, June and July," said 
Roberts, chairman of the MSHSL's Sports Medicine Advisory Committee. 
"Until somebody comes up with a plan that's feasible from a financial 
standpoint, it doesn't make a lot of sense.

"The threat of testing might deter some, but those who want to will 
find a way."

Bill Westholm, director of school operations for the Duluth School 
District, said the drug test issue likely will be discussed at an 
upcoming meeting of activities directors. "It may be something that 
we consider, but we haven't taken a formal position on it," Westholm said.

Westholm knows student-athletes' tendencies well, having spent at 
least 11 of his almost 30 years in the Duluth School District 
coaching track, football and swimming.

"It goes on," Westholm said of drugs. "How widespread is it? In my 
experience coaching, it varies from year to year.... It does happen."

And it's something that Superior administrators hope to curtail.

"If we stay the course for four or five years, we'll be able to 
change that culture," Mitchell said. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake