Pubdate: Fri, 16 May 2003
Source: Springfield News-Leader (MO)
Copyright: 2003 The Springfield News-Leader
Contact:  http://www.springfieldnews-leader.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1129
Author: Susan Atteberry Smith
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)

MARSHFIELD CONSIDERS EXPANDING STUDENT DRUG TESTS

All Extracurricular Activities May Be Covered Soon.

Giving youth one more reason to say no to drugs is why yet another Ozarks 
school district is considering mandatory drug-testing of students in 
extracurricular activities.

The Marshfield School Board could vote as early as next month on whether to 
require drug tests for high school students.

Although some schools, such as Dallas County R-1, require that athletes 
offer urine samples for testing, Marshfield's policy would cover students 
in school-sponsored activities from band to sports, Superintendent Mike 
Wutke said.

Testing would send a message that taking drugs is wrong and has 
consequences, Wutke said.

Because it's random, it would also provide an out for students who are 
offered drugs, he added.

"It gives someone a reason to say no other than just saying no."

At least that's the message a study committee at Marshfield has been 
echoing from southwest Missouri districts with drug-testing policies in place.

Mike Larson, athletic director and assistant principal at Carl Junction 
High School, is one who has been a guest of the committee as it seeks 
public comment on the proposed policy.

In Carl Junction, student athletes have been tested for five years, their 
names matched to numbers drawn at random. For the past year, all junior 
high and high school students in extracurricular activities have been 
tested, Larson said.

The original policy came about because coaches suspected that some athletes 
were using drugs, he said.

The testing pool expanded to include some 620 students - almost half of 
Carl Junction's junior high and high school - after the U.S. Supreme Court 
last June approved random drug tests of students involved in competitive 
after-school activities or teams. Suspected drug use isn't a prerequisite 
for testing.

The schools' interest in ridding campuses of drugs outweighs an 
individual's right to privacy, a 5-4 court decided, ruling against an 
Oklahoma high school honor student who belonged to the choir and an 
academic quiz team. She tested negative for drugs, then sued her school 
district.

In Carl Junction, if the district has heard protests, they've come from 
parents of athletes who said it was unfair to single out their children for 
testing, Larson said.

He told them students in other school-sponsored activities would be tested, 
too, as soon as the law allowed it.

"That's why we're testing everybody now, because we made a promise," he said.

If Marshfield approves mandatory drug-testing, it would be among a small 
but growing number of Missouri public school districts with such a policy, 
said Fred Binggeli, assistant executive director of the Missouri State High 
School Activities Association.

The MSHSAA doesn't keep tabs on the number of drug-testing policies in 
place, but Binggeli estimated about half a dozen schools from several areas 
of the state have contacted the association in the last couple of years to 
talk about the issue.

"It does occur in the state," he said. "I just don't think it's widespread 
yet."

Yet John Throckmorton, operations manager for Employee Screening Service, a 
Springfield company providing testing for schools as well as businesses, 
said about 10 districts in the Ozarks test students.

Throckmorton added that he's seen interest increase since the Supreme Court 
ruling, too.

"Most of the schools that are discussing that now are schools that have not 
done testing in the past, and they're looking to implement a new testing 
program," he said.

But with state budget cuts on the horizon, the expense of drug-testing 
could be prohibitive, Binggeli said.

That's why it's not an option for some 5,000 students who take part in 
Springfield Public Schools extracurricular activities, said Edsel Matthews, 
the district's director of athletics and activities.

Philosophically, Matthews doesn't have a problem with drug-testing, he 
said, but the price is too high for a district the size of Springfield.

"We have looked into it, but for us to drug-test, it would cost us about 
$10,000 a school, and it would be a $50,000 line item," Matthews said.

At Carl Junction, the cost is between $3,000 and $4,000 a year, Larson said.

If Dallas County R-I Superintendent Gary Arthaud could, he'd budget $10,000 
to $12,000 a year for hair-strand testing of all students involved in 
extracurricular activities.

Now, Buffalo athletes - up to one-third of more than 600 high school 
students - randomly undergo urine tests.

Hair-strand tests could reveal prescription drug use, along with the use of 
illegal drugs like marijuana. In Buffalo and other Ozarks schools, illicit 
use of prescription drugs is the latest problem.

Drug-testing, Arthaud said, "is a safety issue, and it's also for their 
long-term health. You know, we want to help (students) while they're young 
to keep a straight life."

Administrators acknowledged the limitations of urine tests, however, which 
can't provide evidence of a weekend drinking binge, even though alcohol is 
still the most widely used drug among teens.

Yet the possibility of not being able to play in a game or a band concert 
could give students the motivation to say no to any drugs, administrators 
reiterated.

"When you look at the way things are these days, it seems to me that drug 
use or alcohol use seems to be more accepted as time goes by, and we need 
to try to change that a little bit," Wutke said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom