Pubdate: Wed, 31 Aug 2005
Source: Asbury Park Press (NJ)
Copyright: 2005 Asbury Park Press
Contact:  http://www.app.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/26
Author: Scott Clayton, Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States)

SHORE SCHOOLS IN FAVOR OF DRUG-TESTING PROGRAM

On Monday, acting Gov. Richard J. Codey signed legislation setting 
guidelines for schools that want to adopt drug-testing programs. By 
Tuesday, the law had already found vocal support among educators, 
administrators and coaches around Monmouth and Ocean County.

The new legislation will give more legal protection to schools that test 
students involved in after school sports programs, extracurricular 
activities or for those who want parking permits, said Jason Butkowski, 
spokesman for the state Senate Democrats.

While the law will make it possible to test for drugs such as marijuana, 
Southern Regional athletic director Kim DeGraw-Cole feels that rising 
awareness of steroid use at the high school level was a driving force in 
the establishment of this law.

DeGraw-Cole serves on a steroid task force made up of high school and 
college administrators, medical experts and members of the sports media 
that was assembled by Codey in July.

"We had athletes that gave presentations. It was surprising to me that some 
of the athletes said that kids they went to school (college) with were 
definitely using steroids right away in their first year," said 
DeGraw-Cole. "These are kids that came from our high schools."

"I think it's a sign of our times and the environment right now," said 
Chris Barnes, football coach at Wall. "If you're following what's going on 
in professional sports, that's created an air of concern which is legitimate."

While according to Frank Belluscio, spokesman for the New Jersey School 
Boards Association, at least 12 districts are known to already have random 
drug testing programs in place, DeGraw-Cole, for one, feels the new law 
helps districts avoid the negative reaction that can come from trying to 
introduce such measures on their own. "You take a hit if you try to do 
something like this locally," DeGraw-Cole said. "So I'm glad to see the 
state doing it, giving us what we need to do right by the athlete."

"It's certainly going to give schools a lot of latitude to test for 
steroids and performance enhancers," said Michael Ritacco, superintendent 
of Toms River schools. "It would give a green light for schools to go ahead 
and try to set some policy that will try to safeguard our students from 
this kind of dangerous behavior."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom