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. 
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"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.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman