Pubdate: Sun, 11 Mar 2007
Source: Record, The (Hackensack, NJ)
Copyright: 2007 North Jersey Media Group Inc.
Contact:  http://www.bergen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/44
Author: Andrea Alexander
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Test)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

NORTH JERSEY SCHOOLS LEAD WAY ON STUDENT DRUG TESTS

New Jersey is at the forefront of a national trend to  make drug and 
alcohol testing as common as gym class  for teens who play high 
school sports, participate in  extracurricular activities or drive to school.

The White House announced on Friday that $1.6 million  in grants will 
be available for districts like Kinnelon  that are considering plans 
to start programs, and for  districts like Wayne that are looking 
into making  voluntary programs mandatory. The districts have 
until  May 8 to apply.

The Bush administration also plans to provide about $10  million to 
continue programs. That could help districts  like Pequannock that 
have become a national model for  schools around the country. 
Pequannock officials have  received calls from 50 districts 
considering programs  of their own -- some as far away as Florida, 
California  and Texas.

The increase in schools drug testing around the state  is "without a 
doubt a trend," said David Evans, founder  of the New Jersey-based 
Drug Free Schools Coalition.  "Within five years, most of the 
districts in the state  will be doing it."

Since the federal government began awarding money in  2003, $35.9 
million has been handed out, according to  the White House Office of 
National Drug Control Policy.  "New Jersey certainly is one of the 
landmark states,"  said Bertha Madras, a deputy director.

Hunterdon Central High School is considered a national  model, Madras 
said. The school won a precedent-setting  case in the New Jersey 
Supreme Court that upheld a  district's right to test athletes and 
students involved  in extracurricular activities.

Encouraging school drug testing is a presidential  priority because 
drug use has been tied to school  violence and other types of 
delinquent behavior, Madras  said. In a 2005 Columbia University 
survey, 62 percent  of high schoolers and 28 percent of middle 
schoolers  reported that drugs were used, kept, or sold at their  school.

Counseling, Not Police

Drug testing programs are not meant to catch students  or punish 
them, proponents say. Instead, drug testing  is supposed to prevent 
students from ever starting to  experiment with drugs. Students who 
test positive the  first time are required to seek counseling. 
Parents are notified, but the police are not. The positive test  does 
not go on students' records but most districts do  ban students from 
extracurricular activities or sports  for a limited amount of time.

"It is like a patrol car parked on the side of the  road," said 
Pequannock Valley Middle School Principal  William Trusheim. "No one 
will speed past him. This is  the same concept."

Pequannock schools were the first in the state to test  middle school 
students for drug use. The district  adopted a voluntary program at 
the middle school and a  mandatory program for the high school.

In Wayne, the board adopted a voluntary testing program  last year 
for both district high schools. More than 200  students, about a 
third of the freshman class, are  enrolled. Eighth-grade students are 
asked to sign up  when they select their high school courses.

Plans to investigate a mandatory drug testing policy  have met with 
resistance from some members of the board  of education. "I don't 
think it is something the  government ought to be doing," said 
trustee Cindy  Simon. "It is very Big Brother-ish."

Board member Donald Pavlak Jr., a Wayne police  sergeant, supports 
considering a mandatory program.  More than 10 years ago, he 
responded to a call for a  high school student who had overdosed.

"I still today hear his mother's screams," Pavlak said.  "That is 
something you don't forget."

A Student Dies

Pequannock schools were driven to adopt one of the  state's strictest 
policies after two students  overdosed. In 2001, an Ecstasy overdose 
killed senior  Mike Del Giudice. The district planted a memorial tree 
outside the school to serve as both a memorial and a  deterrent. A 
few years later the tree became a painful  reminder to administrators 
who were afraid they failed.

Another student, Jesse Morella, suffered irreversible  brain damage 
and was confined to a wheelchair after a  heroin overdose in 2004.

The drug testing program was born out of community  meeting with 
parents following the second overdose.

The program at the Pequannock Valley Middle School is  voluntary, but 
80 percent of the students participate.  Testing in the high school 
is mandatory for those  involved in sports and other extracurriculars 
and for  students who drive to school. The district started  testing 
middle school students because studies show  that many students 
encounter drugs before high school.

Testing children who are 11 and 12, "encourages  students not to 
start," Trusheim, the principal, said.

The district recently gained national attention when it  adopted a 
random alcohol test that can detect on Monday  whether a teenager 
took a drink on Friday. The urine  screening is for ethyl glucuronide 
(EtG), a residue of  metabolized alcohol.

Aggressive Testing

The drug and alcohol testing has not met with  widespread resistance 
from students.

DePaul Catholic High School in Wayne has been testing  students 
through a voluntary program for seven years.  Wayne school officials 
visited the Catholic school when  they were looking for models for 
their program. While  most public schools test about 10 students or 
less a  week, DePaul runs an aggressive program that tests 125 
students weekly and more than 90 percent of the school participates.

"Kids don't do things because they might be drug tested  on Monday," 
said Matt Ratajczak, 18, a senior at  DePaul.

Because so many students are in the program at DePaul  if someone 
opts out, "you wonder what they have to  hide," he said.

Drug testing in schools does have some organized  opponents such as 
the Drug Policy Alliance.

"There is a lot of concern that the programs undermine  the very 
things that work to protect students against  problems," said 
Jennifer Kern, of the Alliance.

Drug testing programs break down trust and might keep  some students 
from getting involved in after school  activities and other programs 
that are proven effective  to keep them away from drug use, she said.

But one of the biggest proponents of drug testing is  Maureen Morella 
of Pequannock. She brings her son  Jesse, now 18 and permanently 
wheelchair-bound as the  result of a heroin overdose, to speak to 
students all  over the state. Jesse can nod his head yes or no, but 
has to eat through a feeding tube.

"There is something way more horrible than finding out  that your 
child is dabbling in drugs," Morella said.  "It is not finding out. 
Then it is too late."

Morella wishes she had gotten a telephone call warning  her that her 
son was experimenting with drugs.

"He wouldn't be spending the rest of his life in a  wheelchair," she 
said. ""It would have saved my life  and it would have saved his life."

[Sidebar]

How Does It Work

Who is tested?

Students who drive to school, play sports or participate in 
extracurricular activities.

What do districts usually test for?

Alcohol and drugs including marijuana, cocaine, Ecstasy, PCP and 
oxycodone, amphetamines, opiates, methamphetamines.

What are the penalties?

Students testing positive the first time are not punished but are 
given counseling. Parents are notified.

* * *

WHO's Involved

Some North Jersey districts that have drug testing programs:

High Schools

North Bergen

Pequannock

Secaucus

Wayne

Middle Schools

Pequannock

Kinnelon High School is considering drug testing.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman