Source: Philadelphia Inquirer (PA) Contact: http://www.phillynews.com/ Copyright: 1998 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc. Pubdate: Sun, 11 Oct 1998 Author: Dan Hardy, Inquirer Suburban Staff ATHLETES' DRUG TESTING HAS BEEN QUIETLY DROPPED IN CHESTER UPLAND Concerns ran high when the policy was announced last year. There is little support for resuming it. CHESTER -- When the Chester Upland School District instituted mandatory drug testing for high school athletes in mid-1997, coaches feared the loss of key players, many parents said their children were being unfairly singled out, and administrators repeatedly pushed back the test date in response to the objections. It now turns out that few, if any, athletes were ever screened, and although the policy is still formally in effect, testing has been quietly discontinued. The main architect of the drug-testing program, Donald F. Tonge, resigned in March from Chester Upland's Board of Control, which has managed the district's affairs since it was declared distressed in 1994. He could not be reached last week. Joseph D. Lapchick, the superintendent at that time, resigned in May. "There was never any decision on my part to stop the testing; I just don't know what happened to it," Lapchick said last week. Juan R. Baughn, the district's acting superintendent, said that "the subject of drug testing has not come up during my tenure here and I have never brought it up." Thomas M. Persing, who took over as chairman of the Board of Control in May, said last week: "I'm not aware that such a policy even exists; this is the first time it has been brought to my attention. We'll certainly look into it." Opinions differ on whether any testing was ever carried out. District spokeswoman Jocelyn Keeve-Crawford said that John Dohler, the assistant principal at Chester High School, told her that random screenings were done on a few basketball players in January, before the program was discontinued because of funding difficulties. Keeve-Crawford said that Randy Legette, the Chester High athletic director, told her that he did not think any testing had been done before the program was dropped. There was little debate or controversy in August 1997 when Chester Upland became the first district in Delaware County and only the third in Southeastern Pennsylvania to require random drug testing for student athletes. Under the policy passed by the Board of Control, student athletes who tested positive in random drug screenings would be suspended from sports participation for at least half the season and required to undergo counseling. Athletes who refused testing would not be allowed to play. Tonge said at the time that the policy would help fight the perception that drug use was prevalent in the district and would provide counseling for the few players who did test positive. But when only a small number of football players showed up for practice in September, some parents and players got upset, saying that the poor turnout was a reaction to drug testing. More players later came out, but in late September, just before they were to be tested, some coaches and parents called for a moratorium. They said that many parents had not been properly informed about the policy and had refused to sign drug-testing permission slips, which was supposed to lead to their sons' automatic suspension from the team. The Board of Control agreed to delay testing until after Thanksgiving. The football team ended the season with a 9-2 record, winning the Del-Val League championship. In November, a group of parents, coaches and administrators suggested modifying the policy so that students who tested positive for the first time would be counseled, not suspended. That change was never formally made by the Board of Control, but a similar procedure was put into effect administratively. All that appears to be moot now, as there appears to be little support for putting the policy back into practice. "It wasn't a very popular policy to begin with," said Lawrence Hamm, president of the Chester High School Parent Teacher Organization. "A lot of people, including myself, felt that the high school students were being made an example of, unfairly. I think they were well-advised to drop the policy. It seems to be a dead issue now, and it should stay dead." - --- Checked-by: Don Beck