http://tinyurl.com/2auoswSIGNING ON: Number of schools in region that test students for drug use is slowly climbing.
RAISING ISSUES: Questions remain about civil liberties, effectiveness of tests in deterring drug use.
Senior Stephanee Hughes stood in the weight room at Marquette Catholic High School, untied her ponytail and waited for the snip.
Wearing latex gloves, teacher Carrie Lieberman pushed back the top of Hughes' curly mop, searched for a section just about the width of a shoelace and used a shiny metal scissors to clip the hair off to the scalp.
"Hair grows. A little hair loss doesn't bother me," said Hughes as she retied her ponytail and got ready to head back to pre-calculus last week at the high school in Alton.
Stephanee is one of the 235 girls and boys losing strands of their hair for drug tests, required for the first time this year for all students. Throughout the year, nearly 60 more, or 25 percent of the students, will be randomly tested.
Marquette is joining a small but growing number of schools in the St. Louis area — and more than 1,000 nationwide — that test students for drugs. Christian Brothers College high school in Town and Country, one of St. Louis' largest Catholic high schools, also began mandatory drug testing for its students as well as faculty and staff members when school started in August.
While private school officials can require testing for all of their students, public schools must follow a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allows for drug testing of students involved in extracurricular activities or those who receive other special services.
In St. Charles County, this is the second year of mandatory, random drug testing in high schools in the Francis Howell School District.
During the last school year, 660 high school students, or about 20 percent of the pool, were tested, district spokesman Jim Joyce said. Of those, 12 tests were positive for illegal drugs, mostly marijuana.
Like Stephanee, most students seem willing to go along with the drug testing. To them, it's no big deal.
"I don't really have a problem with it, because I don't drink or do drugs," Stephanee said.
But some groups have questioned whether the tests are the answer to student drug use.
The Drug Policy Alliance and the American Civil Liberties Union released a report last year that said random drug testing does not effectively reduce drug use among young people. The American Academy of Pediatrics said in March that more research was needed on both safety and effectiveness before testing programs were put in place and that testing can hurt trust between adults and teens.
Francis Howell North tennis player Katlind Graham is one of the students in the district who could be chosen randomly to take a urine drug test. She hasn't been chosen but says she is somewhat concerned that the test invades her privacy.
But she thinks that the system has good intentions. "I think it doesn't stop people who habitually do drugs, but it might stop some students who don't use drugs from trying them," Katlind said.
Mike Slaughter, principal at Marquette, said that's the main reason why he wanted to start drug testing at his school.
"I've given kids a built-in excuse as to why they can say no," Slaughter said.
CBC school leaders considered drug testing for years. When they discussed the idea with parents, many suggested similar tests for teachers, said Brother David Poos, principal. The majority of the faculty agreed.
"To be in solidarity with the kids, our faculty is in support of it," Poos said. Marquette also is in the process of developing a policy to test its teachers.
Tests are confidential and random for everyone at the beginning of the school year, Poos said. As at Marquette, all students will be tested in the beginning of the year, and a fraction will be randomly chosen for more tests throughout the year. A positive test leads to a meeting with a school official, the student and his or her parents to discuss options for counseling or other help. At CBC, if the student fails another required test 120 days later, the student will have to leave the school, Poos said. The same goes for faculty and staff.
Since 2003, the U.S. Department of Education has awarded more than $36 million to more than 88 public school districts to support random drug testing.
Fort Zumwalt, St. Charles County's largest school district, reinstated a testing program of its athletes in 2005. Collinsville High School began testing athletes last fall and is considering expanding the program to include all extracurricular activities, such as band and drama.
Francis Howell's high school drug testing policy requires all ninth- through 12th-grade students involved in extracurricular activities or who have parking passes to be in a pool of students who could be chosen randomly for urine tests. If they test positive for drug use, they are required to receive at least four weeks of counseling and are removed from extracurricular activities — and have their parking passes revoked — for 10 days.
Francis Howell's drug testing program cost about $30,000 last year, and the district is applying for federal grant money that likely will cover the full cost as well as this year's.
Francis Howell is starting a voluntary drug testing program for its middle school students this year. The district is still accepting consent forms.
A positive test for drugs at the middle school level carries no consequences, unlike the high school program. Joyce said parents will be notified so they can get help for their children.
Lisa Williams, a parent of two students at Barnwell Middle School, has not signed her children up for the voluntary program.
"I'm in favor of programs that can hinder a child from those choices," Williams said. "But we're so active in their lives that we don't feel we need to randomly test them."
