Pubdate: Wed, 24 Mar 2004
Source: Garden City Telegram (KS)
Copyright: 2004 The Garden City Telegram
Contact:  http://www.gctelegram.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1476
Author: J.J. Hensley
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)

DRUG-TESTING OPTIONS, COST STILL QUESTIONS FOR USD 466

Two months after the Scott City board of education started discussing a 
drug-testing program for students in the district, two fundamental 
questions remain: Who will be tested, and how much it will cost the district?

District officials said they expect to have these questions resolved in 
time to put the program in place for the next school year.

When the testing program was proposed in January, concerns were raised 
about testing only those students involved in extracurricular activities, a 
selection process for testing students that courts have consistently 
upheld. Scott City residents and parents have said testing only those 
students might target a particular group while overlooking another, said 
USD 466 Board of Education member Marvin Zorn.

At last week's board of education meeting, committee members investigating 
the policy proposed a version that would allow parents to voluntarily enter 
their students' in the testing program.

During the fall semester, about 215 of the 330 students enrolled at Scott 
Community High School were involved in extracurricular activities. Another 
option the district is exploring was having a voluntary testing program for 
the entire student body that would allow parents to decide whether they 
wanted their students to participate.

The board formed a committee following the January meeting to investigate 
the options for implementing the program, but Athletic Director John Kern, 
the committee's chairman, said the committee had met one time and that his 
main concern was funding the program.

"Each sport has a certain budget," he said. "If we have to cut back on that 
to pay for testing, that's my concern."

The committee is scheduled to meet again April 7, Kern said, this time with 
representatives from Sport Safe, an Ohio-based testing company that assists 
districts with setting up testing programs.

Scott City Superintendent Dean Katt said that while the program's cost was 
a concern, it is something the district could control based on the number 
of students tested.

"We're not going to let that hold us back," Katt said, adding that the 
district is researching grant options to off-set some of those costs. If 
the district were to only test those students involved in extracurricular 
activities, the costs would be between $5,500 and $6,500, annually.

Zorn said those costs could end up being passed on to taxpayers in Scott 
City because the district funds extracurricular activities with tax dollars 
to ensure every student can participate who wants to. If the tests were 
limited to those students in extracurricular activities, he said, the 
district would have to ask those parents or the taxpayers to foot the bill.

"How can we alleviate passing this burden on to families," Zorn asked.

The answer to that question, he said, was ensuring that the district and 
the testing program had broad-based community support.

"We want to keep the support of the entire community in this process," Zorn 
said. "It's a pretty broad situation you get into when you're setting up 
something like this."

So far, the community's response has been mixed, Zorn said, with some 
wondering if the district is going too far with the proposal and others 
wondering if the testing program goes far enough. Neither side has been 
particularly vocal, he said.

Zorn said he expected the research committee would give the board a report 
at its next meeting, April 19, so the board could begin work on a 
resolution to make sure the program is in place by the beginning of the 
2004 fall semester. Even then, he said, the initial version of the testing 
program might not resemble the finished product.

"Phasing it in is another option," he said.

For example, during the first year, the district could test only students 
in extracurricular activities.

"If that works well, and there's no negative feedback, we can phase it into 
the whole school," Zorn said.

Other districts have had success using a similar method, and this would 
allow districts more time to keep an eye on pertinent court cases, Zorn said.

"There are a couple of cases pending," he said. "When those are all 
settled, I think it will come out in favor of (broad-based) testing because 
it needs to be done, just basically for some of the things that have 
happened around the country."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom