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News (Media Awareness Project) - US IN: Drug Testing Is Giving Students Reason - Or Excuse - To Say No
Title:US IN: Drug Testing Is Giving Students Reason - Or Excuse - To Say No
Published On:2005-11-13
Source:Journal Gazette, The (IN)
Fetched On:2008-01-15 08:41:14
DRUG TESTING IS GIVING STUDENTS REASON - OR EXCUSE - TO SAY NO

Random drug testing of students is most successful in giving students
an excuse to stay away from drugs, school officials who oversee such
policies say.

But the actual success of the programs has been debated nationally,
and even schools that have random drug testing often don't know
whether it's reducing the number of students who use drugs.

That is one of the areas Southwest Allen County Schools will study as
it goes through its program over at least the next three years. And
Manchester High School is participating in a national study to
determine what combination of random drug testing and education is
most effective.

Randy Self, assistant principal at Manchester High School, said the
school is in its second year of the Institute for Behavior and Health
study. The institute is a Maryland-based non-profit organization that
focuses on national polices on preventing and treating drug abuse.

"We kind of fell into a wonderful opportunity," Self said.

The study is following seven schools throughout the country,
including three in Indiana, for three years to gauge how much drug
testing is the right amount and the effectiveness of education
programs combined with drug testing, he said. By participating in the
study, the school received money to pay for drug education programs.

"We knew the drug testing itself wasn't the answer" to stop drug use
among students, Self said. "We needed a drug education program as well."

Self said by participating in the study, he has been able to talk
with educators at other schools about their programs as well as with
experts in drug prevention.

"It definitely feels like we're headed in the right direction," he
said. "And we're hearing from our kids and our parents that it seems
to be the right thing."

Few Positives

Two years ago, Manchester High School started random drug tests on
student athletes, those involved in extracurricular activities and
those who drive to school. The policy was adopted after several
students were caught with marijuana at school.

An average of five students a week are called out of class to have
their mouths swabbed and the saliva tested for at least five drugs.
Which drugs are tested for changes, but it generally includes
marijuana. If the initial screening comes back positive, a more
thorough analysis is done to determine exactly which drug was taken.

Sometimes, Self said, a test comes back positive because a student is
on a legitimate prescription, but a handful of times last year, it
came back positive for illegal drug use. The first year none of the
120 students tested came back positive, and so far this year, no one
has tested positive. Of the school's 550 students, about 420 are
eligible to be tested.

"(The results are) good, but at the same time we realize we still
have some drug issues," Self said. "We don't want to have our head
buried in the sand because we aren't having any positive results."

He said the number of positive tests is lower than what he expected
when the program first started, but when he looks at the students
being tested, he often isn't surprised that their tests come back negative.

Students who test positive are suspended from their sport or
extracurricular activity or from driving to school for several weeks.
Students must also go through a drug assessment, which could lead to
counseling or other drug treatment.

Self said students have been cooperative with the process, even those
who tested positive. Overall, he said, the policy and the education
programs have reduced drug use somewhat among students.

"I've heard students comment that they use the drug testing as an
excuse to say no," he said. "If this drug testing can help two or
three kids even, it's beneficial."

Saying No

Phil Thompson said being able to use drug testing as an excuse to say
no is one of the things students like about this year's addition of a
random drug testing policy in Southwest Allen County Schools.
Thompson, a junior at Homestead High School, said it hasn't been an
issue for him, but he knows people who have declined using drugs
because of the policy.

Like Manchester's, SACS' policy affects student drivers, athletes and
those who participate in extracurricular activities.

Thompson is eligible because he is in show choir, he said, but he doesn't mind.

"I've got nothing to hide," he said. "I hope I get tested because (I
can say), 'Yeah, that's right. I don't do drugs.' "

That attitude is what prompted some students to volunteer to be part
of the testing pool even though they weren't in any activities, said
Anita Gross, chairwoman of the No Alcohol/No Drug Task Force, a
communitywide organization sponsored by the Southwest Allen County
Education Foundation. The task force's goal is to have middle and
high school students drug- and alcohol-free by 2009.

"They're making a commitment to stay drug-free. It's building trust
with their parents," Gross said of the volunteers.

About 1,600 of Homestead's nearly 2,000 students are in the testing
pool with about 80 percent in sports or other extracurricular
activities, Gross said.

Testing got off to a slow start this year as the task force relied on
local donations to pay for the program. About 10 students a week have
been tested since shortly after the beginning of the school year, but
that will increase to the task force's plan of 30 to 40 a week now
that it received a $480,000 grant from the U.S. Department of
Education, Gross said.

So far, none of the students has tested positive.

But, Gross said, it's too early to draw any conclusions from the
results. Most programs have positive rates of 10 percent or less, she said.

Even though the program is still young, Gross said she believes it
has already been successful.

"It's not about catching kids," she said. "It's about giving kids a
reason to say no."

Ultimately, the goal of the random testing program, as well as the
task force's educational programs for students and parents, is to
reduce student drug use 5 percent each year. Gross said she'll have a
better idea if that was accomplished when students complete a survey
next spring.

Success Questioned

Homestead senior Melissa Connelly has her doubts about whether the
testing will make a difference. She drives to school, making her
eligible to be tested.

"I think it's a good idea for students to be tested, but I don't
think it has an effect," she said. Connelly said she doesn't think
the program will work because the penalties aren't stiff enough.

Students who drive can get by if they can't drive to school for a few
weeks, she said. And missing a few games or a few club meetings isn't
much of a punishment, either, for some students, she said.

But Connelly said she has heard people say they can't do drugs just
in case they get tested. And she has seen others get nervous on the
days students are pulled out for random testing.

That fear and the incentive to say no may not be enough to make a
real difference in drug use at a school, however, according to a 2003
study by the Youth Education and Society sponsored by the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation. The survey included 891 schools and 94,498
students and revealed no difference in the prevalence of drugs among
schools that had random drug testing and those that did not.

Tom Schermerhorn, athletic director at West Noble High School, said
he doesn't know whether the school's policy to randomly test athletes
has reduced drug use.

Since the program began 2 1/2 years ago, 400 students have been
tested and a few have tested positive for drug use. None of the
students who tested positive argued that the results were wrong,
Schermerhorn said.

Athletes are the only students tested at West Noble because they are
the only ones to sign a code of conduct, he said. If a test comes
back positive, an athlete loses anywhere from one-third of the season
to being banned from sports permanently, depending on how many times
the student has been in trouble before.

The student is also encouraged to complete community service or go
through a teen court that may recommend a treatment program.

To Schermerhorn, that is where the success of the program comes.

"We want to make sure the parents are made aware of the situation and
get (the students) help and get them services to help them stop
abusing," he said. "I think it's been a good policy for us."
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