Pubdate: Thu, 05 Oct 2006 Source: St. Petersburg Times (FL) Copyright: 2006 St. Petersburg Times Contact: http://www.sptimes.com/letters/ Website: http://www.sptimes.com/home.shtml Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/419 Author: Tom Marshall $183,289 FOR SCHOOL DRUG TESTS But The Federal Money Would Come With Limits, And The Board Is Already Divided Over Random Testing. BROOKSVILLE - The Hernando County schools can have $183,289 in federal money for a random drug-testing program - if they want it. U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson's office said Wednesday that both Hernando and Citrus counties have won part of the funding they sought this summer to randomly test high school students for drugs. But with a School Board that's evenly divided on the question of random testing, and strong community voices on both sides of the issue, it's not at all clear whether the program will go forward. And two groups of students the district hoped to test - students who drive to school and those in noncompetitive extracurricular activities - cannot be included in the program, federal officials said. Only students in competitive extracurricular activities or athletics can be forced to submit to random urine tests for drugs, said Casey Ruberg, a spokeswoman for the federal Department of Education. And districts that have tested students outside those groups on a voluntary basis, relying on the consent of students and parents, can no longer do so, she said, citing new rules in this year's program. "So students who drive to school are not allowed under our grant," Ruberg said. Janice Smith, coordinator of the district's federal Safe and Drug-Free Schools program, applied last month for $418,000 over three years from the federal Department of Education. Under that proposal, the district would create a "pool" composed of all students who drive to school or participate in extracurricular activities, testing 10 percent - or 220 - of those students monthly for the presence of a range of drugs. But the Department of Education's Web site said that such a pool went beyond what recent court rulings have allowed. "This program has been carefully designed in accordance with decisions handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court," said the guidelines. "To date, the court has not ruled on whether students who park on campus may be subject to drug testing." Smith said she was unaware of those limitations, but said it was possible she might have to curtail the scope of the program if it's approved by the School Board. The board is evenly split on the question. Members Sandra Nicholson and Robert Wiggins favor the testing program, while John Druzbick and Pat Fagan oppose it. That leaves Chairman Jim Malcolm, who voted against a similar program last year but said more recently that he would consider random testing in light of the district's significant drug problem. Hernando students have been identified as being at particular risk for drug use and binge-drinking, according to the Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey. But the question of random testing has brought a strong reaction from all quarters in recent weeks. Calvina L. Fay, executive director of the Drug Free America Foundation in St. Petersburg, said random testing can act as a deterrent to drug use. "More important, it gives students an 'out' or a chance to say no without feeling pressured," she wrote in a letter to the Times. But Lisa Hammond, project director of the Hernando County Community Anti-Drug Coalition, disagreed strongly with that position. "It's a punitive measure. It doesn't work," she said. "Our kids feel so disenfranchised from the community. This is just another measure that will further alienate kids." - --- MAP posted-by: Elaine