Pubdate: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI) Copyright: 2006 Journal Sentinel Inc. Contact: http://www.jsonline.com/news/editorials/submit.asp Website: http://www.jsonline.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/265 Author: Jamaal Abdul-Alim, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Test) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) OFFICIAL TOUTS SCHOOL DRUG TESTS But Local Critics Call Random Screenings Costly, Ineffective A top White House drug policy official pushed educators here Tuesday to adopt random drug tests for students to combat illicit drug use. Advertisement "This is a health issue. This is a safety issue," Mary Ann Solberg, deputy director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, told attendees of the agency's final School-based Drug Testing Summit at the Hyatt Regency hotel. "We test for scoliosis. We test for other things," Solberg said. "Why is testing for drugs any different?" Critics showed up at the summit to answer that question. They included Karen Deiro, a local member of the Drug Policy Alliance, a national group that opposes random drug tests for students. Deiro dismissed random testing as "ineffective and expensive." "I think money would be better spent on education in all areas," Deiro said. To bolster her argument against random drug testing in schools, Deiro noted how the Janesville School District recently scrapped its random drug testing program because it was too costly and wasn't yielding significant results. But Pewaukee High School Principal Marty Van Hulle said he would urge colleagues to adopt random drug testing as his school did two years ago, saying it was a "reasonable and practical" thing to do. He said roughly 75% of the student body is subject to the random tests, which courts have ruled are only legally applicable to students who receive certain privileges from schools, such as extracurricular activities or on-site parking. So far, he said, a few students have tested positive for drugs, and at least one came up clean during a second test, a result Van Hulle described as positive. While critics say drug-testing programs can cost up to $30,000 a year for a school, Van Hulle said his school has spent $3,200 on the program each year and used federal funds earmarked to combat drug use, not local funds or money that could have been otherwise used for teacher salaries or textbooks. The drug control summit on Tuesday drew about 75 educators. Solberg said results from random drug tests should be kept confidential, and the consequences should not result in criminal prosecution, but in counseling. Other speakers ranged from a professor of educational leadership, who dismissed the argument that drug testing drives students away from extracurricular activities, to a toxicologist who said people erroneously believe they can pass drug tests by taking substances designed to prevent testers from detecting drugs. The toxicologist, Sonja Hoppe of Southwest Laboratories in Arizona, said certified drug-testing labs have the knowledge and wherewithal to determine when a human specimen contains a substance meant to conceal the presence of drugs. Marissa Venturi, a junior at Francis W. Parker School in Chicago, attended the summit as a member of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, a Washington, D.C.-based group that considers random drug tests one of many "unjust and counterproductive invasions of students' rights and privacy." Venturi called random drug testing "degrading" and said it would make her reluctant to participate in extracurricular activities - a common concern expressed by opponents. But Joseph McKinney, a professor and chairman of the educational leadership department at Ball State University, presented data from a survey of principals who reported that random drug tests resulted in either no change or even an increase in the number of students participating in extracurricular activities. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman