SCHOOLS CONSIDER RANDOM TESTING

While random student drug testing has become an issue elsewhere,
Fargo school officials say it hasn't been on the front burner here.

School district Activities Director Ed Lockwood said random testing
was considered several years ago, but now the district is trying to
educate students aE" including those involved in athletics and
extracurricular activities aE" about drugs using speakers, posters,
literature and videos.

Last week, New Jersey became the first state to approve random drug
testing for high school athletes.

This week, two Minnesota school districts aE" Cass Lake-Bena, east of
Bemidji, and Forest Lake near the Twin Cities aE" said they also are
considering such a policy.

Despite this, other districts around the Fargo-Moorhead area say they
aren't yet there.

The Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton school district has not considered random
drug testing of students, but Doug Franke, the school board's
president, said the district does have dogs randomly go through
school grounds.

In Fargo, Lockwood said team coaches and strength coaches are the
district's best defense, especially in the case of
performance-enhancing drugs.

"If we see something, we've handled it individually," Lockwood said.
"If a kid starts using that stuff, it really shows up pretty quick."

The Waubun-Ogema-White Earth school district in Minnesota has no
plans to consider random drug testing, but Superintendent Boyd
Bradbury says it is not out of the question for future
consideration.

Hawley, Minn., has talked about random drug testing during
administrative meetings because of the proposals in Cass Lake-Bena
and Forest Lake. The issue has not been brought up at the board
level, according to Superintendent Phil Jensen.

David Pace, superintendent in Breckenridge, Minn., says his district
has not discussed random drug testing. It should first be considered
by state legislators or by the Minnesota State High School League
before schools take on the issue, Pace said.

"I believe that local school districts would spend too many resources
to defend the option of drug testing, taking away from the
classroom," he said.

Representatives of the Moorhead, West Fargo, Fergus Falls, Lake
Park-Audubon and Ada-Borup school districts also say random drug
testing is not something their districts have considered, but one
Fergus Falls School Board Member says it might be worth looking into.

"We have not talked about it," said Tarma Carlson, Fergus Falls
School Board member. "It does raise my interest in researching the
need in our district."

Many Cass Lake-Bena teachers and school officials support the
proposal. So do leaders of the Leech Lake Indian Reservation, of
which Cass Lake is the largest community.

But Anthony Robinson, a Cass Lake-Bena senior, isn't so sure about
it. Robinson plays basketball and says he sees random drug testing as
more of an infringement on students' rights than a solution to a drug
problem.

"I don't think it really proves anything," Robinson said. "I don't
think it's going to get kids off the streets."

Todd Chessmore, Cass Lake-Bena superintendent says the district has
not compiled financial ramifications on random drug tests.

A survey of Illinois school districts participating in drug testing
programs shows costs range from less than $25 to more than $75 per
test or $1,600 to $2,500 for a negotiated lump sum, according to the
Illinois Association of School Boards.

Chessmore says the tribe has agreed to administer and pay for the
program aE" which many in the community believe would give students
another good reason to stay away from drugs.

He predicts a drug-testing policy will be in place in the Cass Lake
district by next fall.

Dan Ninham, Cass Lake-Bena High School's basketball coach, suggested
random drug testing for all middle and high school students involved
in athletics and other extracurricular activities after four separate
homicides occurred in two months this fall near Cass Lake. Drugs are
thought to have been a factor in some of those deaths.

"This is just another avenue on how we can address what's going on
within our own school. We've had a number of violent incidents in the
last year, and if there's any connection to drugs and misuse of
alcohol, if we can address it in that way that we can make it a
positive, then that's what we're going to do for this," Ninham said.

In his proposal, Ninham also offers to make himself and staff
available for testing aE" a move he said is unprecedented in the
United States.

The federal courts have ruled that the U.S. Constitution does not
prevent schools from giving random drug tests to students in
voluntary extracurricular activities. But that hasn't prevented
legal challenges at the state level because state constitutions often
have more privacy protections.

The Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota says
even if drug testing is legal, it's bad policy.

The Forest Lake school district will decide next month whether to
begin considering random drug testing.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.