Educators Give High Marks To Lc Drug-Test Program Some Athletes Object To Nonparticipation By Other High Schools In District 81
Educators say testing Lewis and Clark High School’s athletes for drugs has been an “overwhelmingly positive” experience in its first full year.
“Parents and students have been really positive about it,” said Dan Close, assistant principal and activities director at LC.
“Peer pressure’s pretty intense. If a student isn’t strong enough to say no on their own, this gives them another tool.”
But while many students agree with testing, some say if they have to do it, so should other district high school students. Singling out LC among the five district high schools, they say, gives them a bad rap.
“It’s not just our school that has problems with drugs,” said senior Martin Ross, 17, who has played baseball and football at LC for four years. “People stereotype LC. They think, ‘Oh, it’s those people under the freeway.”’
Nearly 700 LC students are subject to the random drug testing under a Washington Drug-Free Youth program. Four area hospitals contributed $200,000 to cover the $10 price tag for each test, which detects methamphetamines, cocaine and other illegal drugs.
Every district high school has the option to join the program. So far, only LC has.
One LC student has tested positive this school year, in the fall. Last year, three varsity football players had to sit out two games when they failed drug tests.
Students can choose not to be tested only with parental permission.
Close said about 15 parents have signed waivers this year, with most citing privacy issues. The waivers are kept confidential.
Drug testing at LC began with the football team in fall 1996, when players suggested testing after they became concerned about drug use by their teammates.
“The football players kind of wanted to walk their talk,” said Close. “It wasn’t something that came from the administration. That’s why the program worked.”
LC administrators found more support than opposition for the program and asked District 81’s school board to expand the program this school year to include all LC athletes. Close to 75 percent of athletes are tested at the beginning of the season. About 10 percent of athletes are tested weekly throughout the season.
The students are chosen randomly by computer.
A student who fails a drug test becomes ineligible for 14 days, Close said. The student also must take four drug-awareness classes and be retested.
Anyone caught trying to alter the drug test is suspended from the team for the season.
When LC began testing in 1996, Superintendent Gary Livingston pushed the program to other district middle schools and high schools.
But two years later, LC remains the only district high school that has chosen to test athletes for drugs.
“It’s because the students wanted it and approached the administrators,” Close said.
But some LC students say they want others to step up to the plate.
“If they’re going to do one school, they should do all of them,” said Jared Strasser, 17, an LC senior and baseball player. “It seems like LC gets stuck with a big label.”
It’s one, he admits, the school sometimes deserves.
He said he knows of LC athletes who smoke pot, then don’t perform as well on the field.
“What the testing does is it weeds out the people kind of halfway doing their job,” he said. “It narrows it down to those athletes who really want to be here.”
“It keeps us clean,” said baseball player and senior Kurtis Broderson, 18. “It’s a commitment to the team.
But Shannon Sellers, 16, said her athletic commitment to the LC track team should be enough.
“We sign a contract, and that should be it,” she said. “It should just be like an honor thing. It shouldn’t be anyone else’s business.”
Enough money remains to carry the program at least another year. It remains to be seen whether LC will continue it after that, Close said.
“We’ll have to sit down with parents and the coaching community and see if it’s something that’s achieved its objective,” he said.
, DataTimes