Private school proposes random testing of all students

TOWN AND COUNTRY, Mo. -- The young men walking the halls at Christian Brothers College High School in suburban St. Louis couldn't look more clean cut than they do in their school-sanctioned collared shirts and dress pants.

But administrators here -- looking to move beyond appearances-- are proposing a mandatory drug testing program to make sure all of the private school's 1,100 students are drug-free.

"I know a lot of people are worried about privacy concerns, but they're telling us it'll be kept confidential," said junior Tommy Daher, 17, of Manchester. Randomly selected students who test positive will be given help to get off drugs and asked to leave school if they fail a second time. "I think it's great that we'll be leading the way in this," Daher said.

Like CBC, schools around the nation have been trying to determine what's helpful, and what's over the line, when it comes to testing children for drugs.

There's a move in many public schools to drug test athletes or students involved in extracurricular activities. Schools testing for steroids are on the rise, after increased attention about the use of performance-enhancing drugs in professional sports.

There are voluntary programs where middle schoolers agree to stay drug-free and take part in testing.

School drug tests are hailed as an effective drug-fighting tool by the White House, but called unhelpful by a civil liberties group.

Private schools have more leeway to set their own policies, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that schools can conduct random drug testing on middle and high school students who participate in competitive extracurricular activities. Then, President Bush voiced support of student drug testing in his 2004 State of the Union address, helping to fuel interest, said the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

"I think it's a clear tool not to play hide-and-seek with this problem," said the White House office's director, John Walters. He has heard of roughly one school district or private school a week starting some form of random drug testing since last spring. He did not know of any public schools attempting mandatory testing of all its students, as some private schools are doing.

Walters said drug testing in schools is no substitute for parenting and educational programs, but helps prevent students who aren't using drugs from trying them.

"I don't think drug testing is helpful in any schools, even in private schools where there are not the same legal obstacles," said Graham Boyd, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Drug Law Reform Project based in Santa Cruz, Calif., on Friday.

The tests interfere with school officials' ability to build relationships based on trust with students, he said. They may reinforce for a student not using drugs that they're "in the right place," but Graham said he hasn't seen that they help students on drugs or who are looking to try them.

He said some students may see the tests as a challenge and decide to accept that challenge. "It's weighing how likely am I to get caught, versus do I really want to do this?"

The tests raise privacy issues and concerns about the fairness of certain types of tests, he said.

Christian Brothers College High School is still hearing from parents about whether they favor the change, but other schools founded by the same religious order have similar programs and like what they've seen. St. Patrick High School in Chicago said 11 students tested positive once for drugs last year, but just one student tested positive twice.

"The purpose of this is not to catch kids. It's not to be punitive. It's to help kids," said Brother David Poos, principal of CBC, which was founded in 1850.

The families of CBC freshmen will pay $9,500 next year -- a tuition that includes the cost of a new laptop computer-- for an education in a turreted brick high school.

If the drug testing program gets the O.K., parents will likely be asked to pay another $60 annually to fund the tests.

If testing moves forward, about 15 students a day will be randomly selected for testing at the start of an academic year until the entire student body has been checked. Random tests will continue during the year. A section of hair about an inch and a half long will be cut from a student's head and sent to an outside business to check for use of marijuana, cocaine, PCP, ecstacy, methamphetamines and opiates.

If a student tests positive, a school official will meet with the student and his parents to discuss treatment options and how the student can get off drugs. Findings will not be placed on a student's permanent record.

The student will be tested again after 100 days. If the student tests positive for drugs again while enrolled at the school, he will be asked to leave.

School officials and students say they have a small drug problem, but did not believe it was worse than at other schools.

Elsewhere in the country, school districts are making different choices based on their own experiences. The Grapevine-Colleyville public school district in Texas, with about 4,500 students at its two high schools, has started random testing for students in competitive extracurricular activities.

Students there undergo urine tests that check for alcohol, steroids and other drugs, after seven students admitted they were taking steroids, district spokeswoman Megan Overman said.

Students who test positive are suspended from extracurricular activities for 30 days. Their parents are notified and the students take part in three substance abuse counseling sessions. Those students are tested on the next two random test dates. A second offense leads to more counseling and a 90-day suspension from extracurriculars. A third offense bans the student from extracurricular activities for the rest of their time at the school.

Last semester, two of the 200 students randomly selected tested positive.

Overman said, "We want to honor students' rights, but we're also charged with educating students and having a safe educational environment. It's a balance."