Pubdate: Mon, 22 May 2006
Source: Courier-Journal, The (Louisville, KY)
Copyright: 2006 The Courier-Journal
Contact:  http://www.courier-journal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/97
Note: Only publishes local LTEs
Author: Tonia Holbrook, The Courier-Journal
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Test)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States)

OLDHAM SCHOOLS MAY ADD DRUG TESTS

Student Activities Could Join Athletics

Oldham County's student athletes have been tested  randomly for drug
use since 1998, but the school board  is considering whether to expand
the policy to include  students who participate in any extracurricular
  activity.

The board is scheduled to vote tonight on the proposed  policy change,
which could mean random testing for  students involved in anything
from the debate team to  the pep club. If approved, Oldham's revised
policy  would go into effect next school year.

Expanding the policy would make Katie Dogan, a South  Oldham High
junior who plays clarinet in the band,  subject to random testing for
the first time. Still,  she said, "it's probably a good thing."

"There are more people than just athletes that do it,"  Katie said,
referring to drug use.

If the policy is approved, Oldham schools would follow  a national
trend, fueled in part by a 2002 U.S. Supreme  Court decision that
upheld schools' right to administer  the drug tests.

Writing for the majority, Justice Clarence Thomas said  such a policy
"reasonably serves the school district's  important interest in
detecting and preventing drug use  among its students."

Oldham schools have been paying for drug testing out of  the
district's general fund since 1998. It has cost  about $10,000
annually for the past couple of years.

But the U.S. Department of Education offered grant  money this year
for the testing through its Office of  Safe and Drug-Free Schools.
That's why Oldham is  expanding its program, said Michael Williams,
who  oversees student drug testing. Oldham's grant is for  about
$167,000 annually, renewable after three years,  he said.

Williams estimated the district administered about 900  random tests
each year and that will likely increase to  3,500 with the grant.

In Kentucky, the push has been to develop policies  aimed at getting
students help rather than punishing  them, said Jon Akers, executive
director of the  Kentucky Center for School Safety.

Williams said Oldham school officials have the same  goal -- "to help
those kids get help" -- but that's  addressed through disciplinary
action outlined in the  policy.

A student who tests positive would be suspended from  the activity for
a month, or that suspension could be  reduced to a week if the student
agrees to drug  counseling.

Subsequent offenses would mean longer suspensions in  addition to drug
counseling, up to the fourth offense,  when the student would be
barred from participating in  activities for the rest of his or her
high school  career.

Any student who refuses to be tested wouldn't be  allowed to
participate in sports or extracurricular  activities.

The policy would allow individual schools to write  additional
sanctions for students who violate the  district policy.

Dozens of Kentucky school districts test various groups  of students,
said Brad Hughes, spokesman for the  Kentucky School Boards
Association. Five districts test  student athletes and those in
extracurricular  activities, 17 test student drivers and those in
extracurricular activities, six test student athletes  and student
drivers and 22 test student athletes only.

Jefferson County Public Schools doesn't conduct random  drug testing,
except at two alternative schools that  have pilot programs.

Pulaski County Schools began random testing this year  for students
who drive to school as well as those in  extracurricular groups, also
using a grant from the  U.S. Department of Education.

The district hasn't compiled data to review the new  policy, but
spokeswoman Sonya Wilds said it's been a  positive experience and the
community has supported it.

In Oldham County, members of South Oldham High's  parent-teacher-student
association seem to accept  testing more students as "a wave of the
future," said  Judy Vetovitz, whose daughter Michelle is a junior at
the school.

But Vetovitz said she'd rather all students be subject  to random drug
testing than to single out groups of  students, including athletes and
students in  extracurricular activities.

"I think some people think, 'Oh, not my Johnny,' but  yes -- any
Johnny, any Judy any Julies," Vetovitz said.  "It can be any of them."

Michelle plays soccer for the school but said she's  never been called
to submit to a drug test. And since  she's also active on the student
council and in the  Spanish, diplomacy and spirit clubs, she'll be
more  likely to be selected.

But she figures that doesn't matter, adding "Whether  I'm in one sport
or 10, I'm still going to have my name  in the hat."
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake