Pubdate: Tue, 01 Aug 2006
Source: Tribune Review (Pittsburgh, PA)
Copyright: 2006 Tribune-Review Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/460
Author: Bobby Kerlik
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States)

BUTLER STUDENTS GET A CHANCE TO STAND TALL

Butler eighth-grader Laura Metrick doesn't have a  problem with being drug 
and alcohol free and she'd be  willing to take a drug test to prove it.

Starting this fall, Butler Junior High School students  can volunteer for 
Stand Tall -- a random drug-testing  program that would screen students 
throughout the  school year for street drugs such as heroin and  marijuana.

"I think it would be a good club. It teaches kids not  to use drugs or 
alcohol," said Metrick, 13. "I don't  think it's an invasion of privacy."

The group will function as a club with participants  getting T-shirts and 
rubber wristbands. Club members  would be eligible for after-school 
activities including  dances, swim parties and open gyms, said 
principal  James Allen.

Parents will have to sign a consent form for students  to be eligible.

A saliva test will be conducted by an outside agency,  the Visiting Nurses 
Association, in a private room,  Allen said.

Instead of facing punishment, students who test  positive for drugs will be 
referred to the state's  Student Assistance Program, which will be 
administered  by local coordinators.

"It's not intended as a punitive process," Allen said.  "It's an avenue to 
let students know that a lot of the  cool kids are straight. It's a 
positive approach. It's  reinforcing to them their beliefs about drugs 
and  letting them know a whole lot of other kids feel the same way."

Stand Tall is popular in other parts of the state, but  it has caught on in 
few districts in Western  Pennsylvania, Allen said.

Gary Elder, superintendent of Ridgway Area School  District in Elk County, 
said Stand Tall has been in  effect for several years at the district's 
high school  and middle school.

"We've never had anyone test positive," Elder said.  "That's not the point. 
It's a good opportunity for  positive activity and for kids to stand up for 
who they  are and not conform."

Jill Bachman, 44, a mother of three and president of  the Parent, Student, 
Staff Organization at Butler  Junior High, said most parents like the idea 
of  voluntary drug screening.

"I don't think there's any negative repercussions,  especially to having a 
peer support group," Bachman  said. "It's not a program to try and catch 
people. It's  a program for positive reinforcement."

Random drug testing has been a controversial issue in  many districts. 
Seneca Valley was the first Western  Pennsylvania district to institute 
mandatory drug  testing, starting in fall 2002. Tests are mandatory 
for  athletes and students involved in other extracurricular activities in 
grades 7 and up.

In November 2003, the state Supreme Court ruled that  Delaware Valley 
School District in Eastern Pennsylvania  could be sued over its 
drug-testing policy. Although  the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a comparable 
drug-testing  policy in 2002, the Pennsylvania Constitution allows  for 
greater privacy protection, the state Supreme Court  ruled.

Allen hopes the program will catch on and branch out to  the intermediate 
high school and then the high school.

"I'd do it. It wouldn't bother me because I don't do  those kinds of 
things," said Laura's sister, Amy  Metrick, 14, who is headed to ninth 
grade at Butler  Intermediate High School. "A few kids are into that stuff, 
but most aren't. It depends on their maturity  level."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom