Pubdate: Wed, 30 Oct 2002
Source: Times-Picayune, The (LA)
Copyright: 2002 The Times-Picayune
Contact:  http://www.nola.com/t-p/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/848
Author: Rob Nelson, The Times-Picayune
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?217 (Drug-Free Zones)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

SCHOOLS LAUD DRUG TESTS RESULT

Less Than 2 Percent Of Students Failed

Less than 2 percent of student athletes who submitted to the Jefferson 
Parish school system's first round of mandatory drug testing tested 
positive, said school officials who applauded the results as falling far 
short of the 10 percent they expected.

According to a report released this month by Freddie Landry, Jefferson's 
anti-drug and school safety coordinator, only 1.7 percent, or 28 students 
of the 1,556 who gave hair clippings or urine samples this school year, 
tested positive.

Under a policy approved by the School Board in March, high school athletes 
and students participating in physically strenuous extracurricular 
activities must be tested or they will be barred from the activities.

The first round of testing began in August for students in football, 
volleyball, cross country and activities such as cheerleading or dance teams.

The students who tested positive were not expelled from school or reported 
to police, but their parents were notified, and they were referred to 
counseling.

The 28 students who tested positive will be retested after they complete 
counseling, Landry said.

Elected officials, including Orleans Parish District Attorney Harry Connick 
and U.S. Rep. David Vitter, R-Metairie, have touted the plan as the first 
of its kind nationwide, and Vitter helped secure federal grants to finance it.

Linking extracurricular involvement to staying drug-free helped keep low 
the number of students testing positive, Landry said. "The students 
realized they have to make a decision whether they either wanted to 
participate in activities or do drugs," she said. "It gave the kids a real 
reason to say no."

The majority of the participating students had tufts of their hair clipped 
for tests conducted by Psychemedics Corp. of Cambridge, Mass., but 133 
students had to have their urine tested because of a lack of hair, Landry 
said, adding that officials were cautious in protecting the anonymity and 
confidentiality of all students.

Officials are still waiting for results on a small number of students at 
Grand Isle School, where, because of logistical reasons, students were 
tested earlier this month.

In November, the system will hold two additional rounds of testing, one for 
about 450 students participating in winter sports and another set of 
randomly selected students from those tested in August.

The random testing, which will routinely target about 25 percent of those 
previously tested, hopefully will continue to keep students drug-free, 
Landry said.

"I think it's a significant deterrent," she said.

About 450 more students who want to participate in spring sports must be 
tested in January.

The test results help dispel negative stereotypes of teenagers, said Mannie 
Barocco, the district's athletic director. "Everybody thinks teenagers are 
always doing something negative, but that's not the case," he said. "There 
was a lot of anticipation that the results were going to be phenomenal."

Coaches and students were eager to be done with the testing and move on 
with their seasons, Barocco said. "It was just another requirement they had 
to deal with," he said.

As part of the drug-testing policy, all students at East Jefferson High 
School in Metairie and John Ehret High School in Marrero could volunteer to 
be tested with parental permission. But turnout for that part of the 
program has been low, which has raised concern among school officials.

About 100 Ehret students and another 40 at East Jefferson will be tested 
next month, Landry said, adding that ideally the district would like to see 
50 percent to 60 percent of students at each school volunteer. Ehret has 
nearly 3,000 students, while about 1,100 attend East Jefferson.

Officials will work harder to publicize the program at those schools but 
first must check on the federal grant to make sure enough money is 
available to handle the increased demand.

In what some officials described as uncharted territory in drug testing, 
the School Board also voted in July to expand the policy to include 
mandatory testing for middle, junior or high school students who have been 
suspended three times in a school year. The plan is still awaiting 
financing, officials said.

Under the policy, a student cannot return to class until he or she is tested.
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