Pubdate: Tus, 1 Sep 2002
Source: Traverse City Record-Eagle (MI)
Copyright: 2002 The Traverse City Record-Eagle
Contact:  http://www.record-eagle.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1336
Author: Michelle Barbercheck
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

PETOSKEY DISCUSSES STUDENT DRUG TESTS

PETOSKEY - If parents in this school district have their way, the battle 
against student drug and alcohol abuse won't likely be waged using urine 
samples or other drug screening methods. It will be won by teaching better 
parenting and communication skills and letting children know how much 
they're valued in the community.

More than 250 parents, teachers, administrators and students attended a 
community forum hosted by the Petoskey school board to discuss student drug 
and alcohol abuse and how random drug testing might help combat the problem 
on Monday.

Several community leaders spoke at the forum, including law enforcement 
officials and representatives from an area substance abuse treatment agency 
and the courts.

While a few parents told school officials they would support random drug 
screening, the majority said they favored less drastic measures.

Susan Wilhelm, mother of two, told school officials she feels random drug 
testing would alienate the student body.

"I feel it's an invasion of privacy," Wilhelm said. "You may not touch my 
children or collect physical specimens from them without my consent."

Wilhelm and many others said they feel drug and alcohol abuse problems 
start at home, and they advocate putting more resources towards building 
self-esteem and finding out why students start abusing substances in the 
first place.

Chris Neill, a junior at Petoskey High School, said he agreed that random 
drug testing in his school won't solve the problem.

"It's just not going to work. This is a home-based issue," Neill said. "If 
a parent wants to drug test, then they should drug test at home, on their 
own time, for their own reasons and using their own money."

Several parents said they took issue with the school district's current 
stance on substance abuse, which includes random drug dog sweeps and an 
on-site presence of Petoskey Department of Public Safety Officer Randy 
Weston, the school's liaison officer. They said they believe such measures 
are adversarial and diminish how students feel they're being perceived by 
the community.

However, Dr. Gustav Lo, a parent and local family physician, told school 
officials he'd heard only positive feedback from students regarding 
Weston's presence at the school, and felt the officer helped dispel 
negative portrayals of law enforcement officials. Weston has also helped 
foster a more healthy relationship between police and students, Lo added.

Lo urged parents and others in the crowd not to focus so much on the 
highly-charged issue of drug testing for a while.

"Table the whole drug screening issue," Lo advised. "Then we can all step 
back and take a breather and maybe come up with some more positive solutions."

The forum was called by school board members who were concerned over 
results of a survey taken anonymously by Petoskey High School students in 
grades 9-12 during the 1999-2000 school year. Conducted by the Tri-Ethnic 
Center for Prevention and Research at Colorado State University, the survey 
revealed in part that 48 percent of seniors and 28 percent of freshman had 
smoked marijuana at some time, leading school officials to believe their 
existing substance abuse policy may not be adequate.

District Superintendent John Jeffrey said currently Grand Blanc schools are 
the only district in the state with a random drug testing policy, and they 
are being sued by the Michigan Civil Liberties Union.

School officials in Petoskey plan to hold other forums to continue the 
discussion on what such policy, if any, would be best-suited to students in 
their district. The next forum will be held at 7 p.m., Oct. 8, at Petoskey 
Middle School.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom