Pubdate: Mon, 02 Oct 2006 Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO) Copyright: 2006 St. Louis Post-Dispatch Contact: http://www.stltoday.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/418 Author: Shane Anthony DRUG TESTING AT FRANCIS HOWELL SCHOOLS Middle school students in the Francis Howell School District could be tested for drugs by Nov. 1. The district, which began a mandatory drug testing program for most of its high school students in September, is starting a voluntary testing program for middle school students. District spokesman Jim Joyce said about 300 students' parents have signed them up for the program, and the district will send letters soon to parents. The letters will include sign-up forms. Joyce said district officials estimate 700 of the 4,125 middle school students will agree to testing. Joyce said the middle school testing program has some important differences, but its goal is the same - offering students another reason to say no to drugs and providing help to families with students who are using them. He said similar programs have been effective. "This is a good deterrent," he said. Other St. Louis area school districts have either started drug testing programs or are considering them. The Francis Howell district is the second largest in St. Charles County behind Fort Zumwalt, which has a voluntary drug testing program for high school athletes and cheerleaders. Francis Howell's high school drug testing policy requires all ninth- through 12th-grade students who are involved in an extracurricular activity or have a parking pass to be in a pool of students who could be chosen randomly for a urine test. If they test positive for drug use, they are required to receive at least four weeks of counseling and are removed from extracurricular activities - - and have their parking passes revoked - for 10 days. More positive tests lead to more counseling and longer time out of activities. The counseling is provided free through Bridgeway Counseling Services. Parents can choose a different agency at their own expense. The School Board has approved spending about $60,000 to have Clinical Collection Management test students. Middle school parents can sign up their students to be in the testing pool. The middle school program will test for the same substances as the high school program - including marijuana, cocaine and Ecstasy. But the middle school test will not include steroids. Only some of the high school testing includes steroids. A positive test for drugs at the middle school level carries no consequences, unlike the high school program. Joyce said parents will be notified so they can get help for their children. More school officials than parents attended a forum Thursday night at Bryan Middle School explaining the testing program. Parents who attended asked questions about how the tests would work and about confidentiality. They also raised a common question about why the district wasn't going to test all students. Joyce said the district cannot test all students because a U.S. Supreme Court decision in effect has limited testing to students who are in activities or are receive other services beyond what is required by law - such as the parking passes. Bob Williford, 48, of St. Peters, said he had no problem with his children being tested but that he wanted to make sure the test samples were destroyed after testing was finished. He said he didn't want his children's DNA to fall into the wrong hands, and he had held his high school age children out of extracurricular activities until he could get an answer to that question. Joyce said the samples would be destroyed. The district will keep files on students who test positive for drugs, he said, but those files will be separate from their academic records and will be destroyed after they graduate from middle school and from high school. Joanne Davis, 45, of St. Peters, said she was pleased the district was offering a drug testing program, and she hoped it would reduce drug use among teens. "If we get them when they're young and they're still open to things, maybe we can make a difference," she said. - --- MAP posted-by: Elaine