PARENTS 'JUST SAY NO'
Student drug testing policy met with more criticism
By James Moate Endeavor News

A proposed drug testing policy was met with more criticism from members of the public during a policy meeting held by Cameron County School District's board of directors earlier this week. If the policy is adopted, students participating in extra-curricular activities (also called activity students) will be subjected to random urine tests to detect the use of illegal drugs.

Coach and parent Scott Baker said he believes the policy will push more students away from extra-curricular activities.

"We're not addressing a problem, we're testing a group (of students) because we can legally," Cameron County High School (CCHS) wrestling coach Scott Baker commented.

"Think about it from my (perspective)," he told educators. "When I try to get a kid to come out for wrestling, I have to tell him he's going to have to work hard, he's going to sweat, he's going to get cut up, he might get herpes, he might get ringworm and now I have to tell him he has to pee in a cup?"

"I think the benefits of the policy are invaluable" he told continued. "But I see it as a deterrent (against students joining extra-curricular activities.)"

Many parents in the district seem to have taken similar viewpoints on the issue. The most common stance that parents seem to have taken is that testing students in extracurricular activities is not only unjust, but that these students are not typically the ones who exhibit substance abuse problems.

"It makes no sense to test these students because they're not the (ones who are using drugs)," said Randy Frey, another parent in attendance.

Board president Robert "Speedy" Lininger agreed that it is unfair, but said that until a more accurate form of testing becomes more affordable, it appears to be the best to address what many believe is a growing problem.

Under the proposed policy, teachers suspecting that a student is under the influence of illegal drugs can refer students for testing. Administrator Clyde Moate suggested that a better solution may be to forget about testing activity students and offer drug testing solely as an avenue that concerned parents and teachers can pursue if necessary.

Roger Neyman, parent of two CCHS students, said he believes focusing on activity students won't work and that the students who are using drugs will find ways to avoid the drug testing.

"My problem is that you're targeting a certain group of kids because they chose to go an extra step and do a little more," said Neyman. "For every group of kids that you choose to include in this policy, the kids that are using drugs will find ways to duck under the radar."

According to the policy's draft, students will not be allowed to participate in extracurricular activities unless they sign an agreement stating that they will comply with random testing. Students who test positive would be suspended from the activity.

Hope Dunkle, a parent and registered nurse said that her major concern was the random testing. She said that in her experience, random testing is not the best way to address drug abuse.

She said addressing substance abuse problems is not best done by looking for people who have problems. Instead, she said, you address specific problems as they occur.

"You need to decide what you are trying to accomplish," said Dunkle. "What are you trying to prove here? If your objective is to get statistics, then (execute random tests). But if your objective is to get the students some help, let them screw up and then test them. They shouldn't be tested because they want to go above and beyond their responsibilities as a student."

Dunkle added that accuracy of drug testing is only about 80 percent. That means that as many as 20 out of 100 students could test positive for drugs despite being clean. This was a fact that created additional concern in coach Baker.

"Twenty in 100 is alarmingly (high)," said Baker. "That's a pretty big stretch to make the parents of those students have to pay the costs of additional tests to prove that their kids were clean in the first place."

Confidentiality of test results was another topic of discussion.

"One of the coaches asked me how he was going to explain to the rest of his team why a student who tested positive was being suspended without exposing the truth," said Moate. "I can't answer that question."

According to the policy, access to results would be available to not only the student and the parent, but also the medical review officer, the coach, the guidance counselor, the school nurse, the student assistance program (SAP) team, certified drug and alcohol evaluators, persons authorized by parents, those directed by court order, the principal and the superintendent..

"I think that the results should be sent to the parents," said Moate. "There's no reason why anyone else should have access to those results."

According to Lininger, this policy would only be instated to deter students from using drugs, not to punish them. Despite that fact, some parents believe that too much emphasis has been placed on the punitive element.

Among those parents, was Frey who suggested that the police be the ones to punish students if need be. Frey said that he believes the focus of the district should not be on punishment, but rather on the educational side of substance abuse.

According to Moate, the main question that should be answered is what role the district should play in this process.

"We need to come up with questions concerning who all can be tested." Moate said. "Can we test the whole student body, can we test the faculty, who can't we test?"

Next scheduled policy meeting will be held on March 10 at 6:30 pm. Stuart Knade, Chief Counsel of the Pa. School Boards Association (PSBA) will be present to discuss those, and other, legal matters. Knade is the foremost authority on Pa. state laws concerning public schools. As always, the public is welcome and encouraged to attend.

In other business, the board discussed a policy on regulations for banners, plaques and pictures recognizing athletic and academic achievements. Some proposed size guidelines were set as well as some distinguishing colors.

In the proposed policy, individual plaques should be no larger than 8.5" x 11" while collective plaques are limited to 13" x 20". They shall be constructed of walnut. Name plates will be brass for athletics and red for academics. Only memorial plaques contain pictures, provided they are no larger than 5" x 7".

Banners shall all be three feet in width. They shall be between five and seven feet in length for championship sports teams and no bigger than eight feet in length for general school banners.

Pictures will represent district, regional and state championship teams or individuals who are state medalists or higher. Photos of undefeated junior high and junior varsity teams and will contain 8" x 10" pictures matted and framed to 11" x 14". Winning varsity teams will be recognized by photos measuring 11" x 14" which will be matted and framed to 16" x 20". All pictures must contain Plexiglas, not real glass.