Pubdate: Sun, 11 Mar 2007
Source: Herald News (West Paterson, NJ)
Copyright: 2007 North Jersey Media Group Inc.
Contact:  http://www.northjersey.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2911
Author: Andrea Alexander, Staff Writer

NORTH JERSEY SCHOOLS LEAD WAY ON DRUG TESTS

New Jersey is at the forefront of a national trend to make drug and
alcohol testing as common as gym class for teens who play high school
sports, participate in extracurricular activities or drive to school.

The White House announced on Friday that $1.6 million in grants will
be available for districts like Kinnelon that are considering plans to
start programs, and for districts like Wayne that are looking into
making voluntary programs mandatory. The districts have until May 8 to
apply.

The Bush administration also plans to provide about $10 million to
continue programs. That could help districts like Pequannock that have
become a national model for schools around the country. Pequannock
officials have received calls from 50 districts considering programs
of their own -- some as far away as Florida, California and Texas.

The increase in schools drug testing around the state is "without a
doubt a trend," said David Evans, founder of the New Jersey-based Drug
Free Schools Coalition. "Within five years, most of the districts in
the state will be doing it."How does it work?

Who is tested?

Students who drive to school, play sports or participate in
extracurricular activities.

What do districts usually test for?

Alcohol and drugs including marijuana, cocaine, Ecstasy, PCP and
oxycodone, amphetamines, opiates, methamphetamines.

What are the penalties?

Students testing positive the first time are not punished but are
given counseling. Parents are notified.

Some North Jersey districts that have drug testing
programs:

Kinnelon High School is considering drug testing.

Since the federal government began awarding money in 2003, $35.9
million has been handed out, according to the White House Office of
National Drug Control Policy. "New Jersey certainly is one of the
landmark states," said Bertha Madras, a deputy director.

Hunterdon Central High School is considered a national model, Madras
said. The school won a precedent-setting case in the New Jersey
Supreme Court that upheld a district's right to test athletes and
students involved in extracurricular activities.

Encouraging school drug testing is a presidential priority because
drug use has been tied to school violence and other types of
delinquent behavior, Madras said. In a 2005 Columbia University
survey, 62 percent of high schoolers and 28 percent of middle
schoolers reported that drugs were used, kept, or sold at their school.

Drug testing programs are not meant to catch students or punish them,
proponents say. Instead, drug testing is supposed to prevent students
from ever starting to experiment with drugs. Students who test
positive the first time are required to seek counseling. Parents are
notified, but the police are not. The positive test does not go on
students' records but most districts do ban students from
extracurricular activities or sports for a limited amount of time.

"It is like a patrol car parked on the side of the road," said
Pequannock Valley Middle School Principal William Trusheim. "No one
will speed past him. This is the same concept."

Pequannock schools were the first in the state to test middle school
students for drug use. The district adopted a voluntary program at the
middle school and a mandatory program for the high school.

In Wayne, the board adopted a voluntary testing program last year for
both district high schools. More than 200 students, about a third of
the freshman class, are enrolled. Eighth-grade students are asked to
sign up when they select their high school courses.

Plans to investigate a mandatory drug testing policy have met with
resistance from some members of the board of education. "I don't think
it is something the government ought to be doing," said trustee Cindy
Simon. "It is very Big Brother-ish."

Board member Donald Pavlak Jr., a Wayne police sergeant, supports
considering a mandatory program. More than 10 years ago, he responded
to a call for a high school student who had overdosed.

"I still today hear his mother's screams," Pavlak said. "That is
something you don't forget."

Pequannock schools were driven to adopt one of the state's strictest
policies after two students overdosed. In 2001, an Ecstasy overdose
killed senior Mike Del Giudice. The district planted a memorial tree
outside the school to serve as both a memorial and a deterrent. A few
years later the tree became a painful reminder to administrators who
were afraid they failed.

Another student, Jesse Morella, suffered irreversible brain damage and
was confined to a wheelchair after a heroin overdose in 2004.

The drug testing program was born out of community meeting with
parents following the second overdose.

The program at the Pequannock Valley Middle School is voluntary, but
80 percent of the students participate. Testing in the high school is
mandatory for those involved in sports and other extracurriculars and
for students who drive to school. The district started testing middle
school students because studies show that many students encounter
drugs before high school.

Testing children who are 11 and 12, "encourages students not to
start," Trusheim, the principal, said.

The district recently gained national attention when it adopted a
random alcohol test that can detect on Monday whether a teenager took
a drink on Friday. The urine screening is for ethyl glucuronide (EtG),
a residue of metabolized alcohol.

The drug and alcohol testing has not met with widespread resistance
from students.

DePaul Catholic High School in Wayne has been testing students through
a voluntary program for seven years. Wayne school officials visited
the Catholic school when they were looking for models for their
program. While most public schools test about 10 students or less a
week, DePaul runs an aggressive program that tests 125 students weekly
and more than 90 percent of the school participates.

"Kids don't do things because they might be drug tested on Monday,''
said Matt Ratajczak, 18, a senior at DePaul.

Because so many students are in the program at DePaul if someone opts
out, "you wonder what they have to hide,'' he said.

Drug testing in schools does have some organized opponents such as the
Drug Policy Alliance.

"There is a lot of concern that the programs undermine the very things
that work to protect students against problems,'' said Jennifer Kern,
of the Alliance.

Drug testing programs break down trust and might keep some students
from getting involved in after school activities and other programs
that are proven effective to keep them away from drug use, she said.

But one of the biggest proponents of drug testing is Maureen Morella
of Pequannock. She brings her son Jesse, now 18 and permanently
wheelchair-bound as the result of a heroin overdose, to speak to
students all over the state. Jesse can nod his head yes or no, but has
to eat through a feeding tube.

"There is something way more horrible than finding out that your child
is dabbling in drugs,'' Morella said. "It is not finding out. Then it
is too late.''

Morella wishes she had gotten a telephone call warning her that her
son was experimenting with drugs.

"He wouldn't be spending the rest of his life in a wheelchair,'' she
said. ""It would have saved my life and it would have saved his life.'' 
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