Pubdate: Mon, 02 Oct 2006
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)
Copyright: 2006 St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Contact:  http://www.stltoday.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/418
Author: Shane Anthony

DRUG TESTING AT FRANCIS HOWELL SCHOOLS

Middle school students in the Francis Howell School  District could 
be tested for drugs by Nov. 1.

The district, which began a mandatory drug testing  program for most 
of its high school students in  September, is starting a voluntary 
testing program for  middle school students. District spokesman Jim 
Joyce  said about 300 students' parents have signed them up  for the 
program, and the district will send letters  soon to parents. The 
letters will include sign-up  forms. Joyce said district officials 
estimate 700 of  the 4,125 middle school students will agree to testing.

Joyce said the middle school testing program has some  important 
differences, but its goal is the same -  offering students another 
reason to say no to drugs and  providing help to families with 
students who are using  them. He said similar programs have been effective.

"This is a good deterrent," he said.

Other St. Louis area school districts have either  started drug 
testing programs or are considering them.  The Francis Howell 
district is the second largest in  St. Charles County behind Fort 
Zumwalt, which has a  voluntary drug testing program for high school 
athletes and cheerleaders.

Francis Howell's high school drug testing policy  requires all ninth- 
through 12th-grade students who are  involved in an extracurricular 
activity or have a  parking pass to be in a pool of students who 
could be  chosen randomly for a urine test. If they test 
positive  for drug use, they are required to receive at least  four 
weeks of counseling and are removed from  extracurricular activities 
- - and have their parking  passes revoked - for 10 days.

More positive tests lead to more counseling and longer  time out of activities.

The counseling is provided free through Bridgeway  Counseling 
Services. Parents can choose a different  agency at their own 
expense. The School Board has  approved spending about $60,000 to 
have Clinical Collection Management test students.

Middle school parents can sign up their students to be  in the testing pool.

The middle school program will test for the same  substances as the 
high school program - including  marijuana, cocaine and Ecstasy. But 
the middle school  test will not include steroids. Only some of the 
high  school testing includes steroids.

A positive test for drugs at the middle school level  carries no 
consequences, unlike the high school  program. Joyce said parents 
will be notified so they  can get help for their children.

More school officials than parents attended a forum  Thursday night 
at Bryan Middle School explaining the  testing program. Parents who 
attended asked questions  about how the tests would work and about 
confidentiality. They also raised a common question  about why the 
district wasn't going to test all  students.

Joyce said the district cannot test all students  because a U.S. 
Supreme Court decision in effect has  limited testing to students who 
are in activities or  are receive other services beyond what is 
required by  law - such as the parking passes.

Bob Williford, 48, of St. Peters, said he had no  problem with his 
children being tested but that he  wanted to make sure the test 
samples were destroyed  after testing was finished. He said he didn't 
want his  children's DNA to fall into the wrong hands, and he had 
held his high school age children out of  extracurricular activities 
until he could get an answer  to that question.

Joyce said the samples would be destroyed. The district  will keep 
files on students who test positive for  drugs, he said, but those 
files will be separate from  their academic records and will be 
destroyed after they  graduate from middle school and from high school.

Joanne Davis, 45, of St. Peters, said she was pleased  the district 
was offering a drug testing program, and  she hoped it would reduce 
drug use among teens.

"If we get them when they're young and they're still  open to things, 
maybe we can make a difference," she  said.
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MAP posted-by: Elaine