Pubdate: Wed, 15 Sep 2004 Source: Daily Herald (IL) Copyright: 2004 The Daily Herald Company Contact: http://www.dailyherald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/107 Author: Sheila Ahern Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) ANTIOCH TO TOUGHEN DRUG TESTS FOR PREP ATHLETES Antioch Community High School is looking to put some new teeth into an already tough policy that tests every student athlete for drugs. The Antioch-Lake Villa Area High School District 117 school board is considering upping the ante by using hair instead of urine samples to look for the presence of drugs. The change, while more expensive, would allow officials to detect drug use going back 90 days. Urine tests go back only about a week, officials said. The board plans to discuss the issue Thursday. Superintendent Jay Sabatino said it has based its tough drug policy "on what the community wanted." "Last year, we started testing randomly, and this year it was everyone," Sabatino said. "It came from a push within the community to make sure students didn't participate in drugs." Student athletes will be tested before their first competition this school year and randomly during the season. In 2004-05, about 1,500 drug tests will be given to students in the district, which serves the Antioch and Lake Villa area. About 500 students were tested before the start of all sports this fall. All but one passed. Antioch High School students and students from the newly opened Lakes Community High School who participate in sports at Antioch will follow the policy. Students in other extracurricular activities, such as yearbook and drama, are still tested randomly for drug use, Sabatino said. A few schools, such as Zion-Benton High School conduct random testing. However, most districts, including Stevenson High School, don't test student athletes at all. "I think it gives parents a false sense of security," said John Martin, Stevenson's athletic director. "We provide an opportunity for students to play sports. We are not their parents." Plus, drug tests don't catch everything, Martin said. Hair tests will detect for the presence of all the same drugs that can surface in urine samples, plus Ecstasy. However, it doesn't detect steroid use, said Steve Schoenfelder, Antioch's athletic director and assistant principal. Still, Schoenfelder favors drug testing every athlete and using hair samples. "By the time we catch a student using drugs, he or she has probably been using for awhile," he said. "At that point, sports becomes secondary. We're talking about life here." District 117 board president Phil Delany agrees. "It's less intrusive for a student," Delany said. "And it gives us a better feel if that student is using drugs since it tests back farther." If approved, the change would go into effect this winter. Hair testing is about $45 per test, compared to urine testing at a cost of $30 per test. If District 117 approves the hair testing, it will spend about $67,500 on athlete drug testing in the 2004-05 school year. That's a bit much, said Ed Yohnka, a spokesman with the American Civil Liberties Union. "That is an enormous expense in this day and age when school districts are crying for money," Yohnka said. "It also sends a message to young people that you don't trust them." In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a program that tested students in extracurricular activities, and some school districts have gone overboard, Yohnka said. "Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you have to," he said. The Illinois State Board of Education doesn't monitor which schools drug test their athletes. Neither does the Illinois High School Association. Roycealee Wood, regional superintendent of Lake County schools, said a drug testing policy should be made by local school boards. Drug: Hair tests cost $45 each while urine costs $30 - --- MAP posted-by: Derek