Pubdate: Tue, 03 May 2005
Source: Mail Tribune, The (Medford, OR)
Copyright: 2005 The Mail Tribune
Contact:  http://www.mailtribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/642
Author: Anita Burke
Note: Letters from the newspaper's circulation area receive publishing
priority
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States)

DADS WANT DRUG TESTS IN SCHOOLS

Parents Will Ask The Medford School Board To Study The
Idea

A Medford dad wants to give kids a reason to say no to drugs. And he
says random drug tests for students participating in extracurricular
activities is the way to do it.

Kevin Lamson, whose son attends North Medford High School, has rallied
a group of parents and plans to ask the school board at its regular
meeting Tuesday to consider a drug-testing policy that would randomly
test kids who play sports, participate in activities or get school
parking permits. He also would like all parents to have the chance to
enroll their children in the testing program, even if the kids don't
participate in school activities.

"We owe our kids every tool" to resist drugs, he said. "This is a way
to say 'I love you and I want you to have another reason to say no.'
"

Board Chairman Mike Moran said the board welcomes suggestions from
parents.

"This is a worthwhile thing to look at," he said. "Drugs in schools
are a great concern."

Moran noted, however, that the cost of a testing program and of
providing links to counseling or treatment must also be considered,
along with students' rights and parent support.

After hours of Internet research, Lamson says he has answers to
concerns about need, effectiveness, cost and legality of random drug
tests. And after conversations with teens and parents, he thinks the
community will support his call for the district to form a task force
to study adding such tests.

A state survey that showed 44 percent of last year's high school
juniors in Jackson County had tried marijuana and 66 percent had tried
alcohol convinced him that the problem is real here.

"You hear kids make general statements like 'everybody does it,' but
it doesn't sink in," he said.

Studies in Oregon and New Jersey have found schools with random drug
testing have lower rates of drug use than schools without testing
policies, he said. Testing doesn't appear to diminish participation in
extra-curricular activities, the studies found.

The Supreme Court upheld the legality of testing student athletes in
an Oregon case in 1995 and upheld testing students in other
extracurricular activities in 2002. The White House's Office of
National Drug Control Policy supports such random testing and the U.S.
Department of Education has $5.5 million in grant money available to
schools that want to institute a program, Lamson reported. He also
said that parents, who already pay a fee for students to participate
in activities, and groups that support youth sports might help pay for
a program, too.

"This is a way to be proactive," said Ed Singler, parent of a South
Medford High School sophomore. "This sends kids a signal that we care,
not just parents, but the whole community cares."

Lamson has contacted an Ohio-based company, Sport Safe, that
specializes in student drug testing and charges $26 per test. Lamson
estimates at least 50 percent of participating students would have to
be tested for the program to be effective.

The only two Jackson County school districts that required drug
testing during the 1990s, Butte Falls and Prospect, curtailed the
tests as budgets tightened in 2002. Following a community debate in
1997, the Phoenix-Talent district decided not to test.

Medford, as well as other districts around the Rogue Valley, require
students in athletics and activities to sign a code of conduct,
promising that they will not use drugs or alcohol or be in a place
where the substances are used. Medford's conduct code also states that
if the student is suspected of drug use, officials can bar the student
from activities until parents test their child, said school board
member Peggy Penland, who helped draft the rules.

She said that approach "brings parents in and let's them raise their
child. Our job is to engage the parent."

If you go

The Medford school board meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the South Medford
High School Cafeteria, 815 S. Oakdale Ave.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin