Fighting Drugs at Schools : Officials Pin Their Hopes on Voluntary Student Testing Programs

Facing long odds in an ongoing battle against student drug use, school officials in this rural township plan to slip a new and unusual weapon into their arsenal this week--a voluntary drug testing program for athletes.

If trustees agree to go forward with the testing as expected tonight, Fallbrook High School will become one of only a handful of campuses in Southern California using the technique, according to architects of the program.

Under the program, which administrators hope will spread campuswide, athletes who volunteer for the screening submit their names to a pool. Each week, several names are selected randomly, and those students chosen are asked to undergo a urine test that day.

If the results are negative, the teen-ager’s name is tossed back into the pool. If evidence of drug or alcohol use is detected, however, parents are contacted and urged to enroll the child in counseling.

All aspects of the process--including an athlete’s initial decision to participate--are kept confidential, known only to a panel of anonymous community members who administer the system. No punitive action is taken against students who test positive for drugs.

School authorities say they have no illusions that this approach is a cure-all for adolescent drug abuse, which most describe as a growing problem among all segments of Fallbrook’s student population. But they do believe the program is worth a try.

“It’s certainly not going to make Fallbrook drug-free overnight,” said Bob Burton, student activities director at the 1,871-pupil campus. “But it can’t hurt. And even if it helps only a handful of kids say no to drugs, then it’s worth our best efforts.”

Similar sentiment prompted Coronado High School to adopt the program, which they intend to open to all students, several weeks ago. Assistant Principal Maurice Shaw said that when he first heard about the approach, “my reaction was, ‘You’ve got to be kidding! Students volunteering to take drug tests? Not on your life.’ ”

But after exploring the program a bit more, Shaw became “100% converted to it. We’re desperate for some sort of solution to drug abuse, and I think this is a very innovative approach with a lot of potential. We can’t pass up the chance.”

Pioneered last fall by Edison High School in Huntington Beach, the voluntary drug testing program is based on the theory that the intensity of peer pressure is what prompts many, if not most, students to drink and use drugs. Participating in the testing process provides students with a tool to dig themselves out from under that pressure, supporters say.

“The program gives kids a built-in excuse to say, ‘Hey man, I can’t do drugs because I might be tested tomorrow,’ ” Workman said. “The fact that they might get busted is something their friends can understand. So they’re able to turn down drugs but still stay cool with their crowd.”

There is a corollary to that argument. Officials predict that when some athletes enroll in the program, and later advertise their negative test results with pride, it will encourage other team members to sign up just to prove they are clean.

“I see that kind of pressure, from some of our top kids who stand up and say, ‘I’m taking the test because I’m not on drugs,’ as a key to motivating others to do it,” said Tom Pack, Fallbrook’s athletic director and football coach. “If that happens, I believe we’ll really be onto something.”

Shaw, however, readily admits that the program is preventive in nature and offers little for adolescents already under the grip of drug abuse.

“I am very excited about this program and I believe it’s got a lot of potential,” Shaw said. “But it’s aimed at the students who don’t use, rarely use or are experimenters. I honestly don’t anticipate that the abusers will volunteer. We’ll have to reach them with another approach.”

Some Fallbrook officials disagree.

“My hope is that maybe the kids who are crying out for help and looking for a way to get off drugs will take this route,” said Tim Oder, a history teacher and the school track coach. “I’m sure there are a lot of kids who want to reveal their problem, get help, but don’t have the nerve to turn to Mom and Dad. This will blow the whistle.”

Meanwhile, Fallbrook students seem to have mixed reactions to the plan. Most of those interviewed said they would probably agree to be tested only if their parents urged them to.

But Ted Reich, student body vice president and captain of the football team last season, said he would volunteer because the program “seems based on a caring attitude rather than like they’re trying to entrap you and turn you over to the cops.”

Reich also predicted that if the class presidents and “people kids look up to did it, then maybe it would put everyone else in line. Fallbrook is a real small town--everybody knows what everybody else is doing. So the positive peer pressure thing just might work here.”

Shari Siegfried, a junior who plays field hockey, said she would take the test “if my mother makes me.”

“But I don’t think they’re going to get a lot of willing volunteers unless they tell them the date they’ve got to take the test,” said Siegfried, who called Fallbrook’s drug and alcohol problem “good-sized and especially bad on the weekends.”

Among the skeptics, several athletes said that they view the test as an invasion of privacy, a charge that school officials dispute because the screening is voluntary. Others objected to the $25 charge for the procedure--a fee the school will pick up if a family is unable to pay--and many confided they felt the test represented a violation of trust between a student and parent.

“My parents are for it, but I feel uncomfortable about it, like I shouldn’t have to take a test to prove I’m not on drugs,” said Cindi Sullivan, a senior on the track team. “I think they should just take my word for it. They say they trust me, and if they do, I shouldn’t have to give a urine sample.”

Sullivan and other students also challenged the accuracy of the tests, which will screen for alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, amphetamines and a host of other street drugs. Some athletes said they had heard rumors that aspirin and other common medications can falsely produce results indicating narcotic use.

Dr. Dan Andrus, a local physician and father of two Fallbrook High students who is assisting with the program, said such fears are unfounded.

“If a kid took Nyquil or aspirin or had some of his father’s wine the night before the test, then all he has to do is tell us, and we’ll watch for that,” Andrus said. “We’re not policemen looking to crack down on kids if something shows up. And if they don’t believe the results, they can always take the test again.”

Because of the confidential nature of the program, it is difficult to measure its impact. But according to Workman, voluntary drug testing has been a smashing success at Edison High School.

Initiated last fall with Workman’s football squad, the voluntary screening has since spread through nearly all the campus sports teams, and there is talk of extending it to extracurricular groups such as student government and cheerleaders. Moreover, students from neighboring schools have sought--and received--permission to sign up for Edison’s program.

There are other signs of progress. Several athletes screened have taped negative test results on the gym bulletin board and Workman said his football players--90% of whom are in the program--proudly sport T-shirts bearing the team symbol, a lightning bolt, and the words “Mean, Green and Clean.”

Perhaps most intriguing, Workman said, students who are not participating in the program often tell him that they say they are enrolled simply to deflect offers of drugs.

“As far as I’m concerned, that’s dead-on confirmation that this approach works,” Workman said. “Because let’s face it, the power of drugs in our society today is so great that most kids really need an excuse to reject them.”

To persuade his athletes that the program is a positive force intended to help them rather than a “Big Brother is watching you approach,” Workman and his fellow coaches also enrolled in the program--on special terms.

“We told our guys that any time they wanted a coach tested, we’d do it,” Workman said. “They’ve only done it once but it’s still open season. And if a coach is caught with narcotics in his system, he’s history.”

Although there have been few drug-related suspensions at Fallbrook this year, Principal Henry Woessner said he’s convinced drug use is spreading, particularly at off-campus weekend events.

“It’s spread beyond the problem students one might normally expect to be involved and it’s gone from marijuana and drinking to cocaine and crystal methamphetamine,” Woessner said. “When we talk about drugs, we think in terms of 100% of the student body being involved because they are all so close to the problem.”

Track coach Oder thinks the drug problem may be worse in Fallbrook than in other districts because “the community is isolated and a lot of our kids have too much money in their hands.”

So far, administrators in both districts say they have received nothing but support from the community, although some parents in Coronado were worried about the confidentiality of the program and some Fallbrook parents preferred that testing be mandatory.

Parental support, officials agree, will be key to the program’s success. A student’s decision to volunteer for testing must be made in consultation with a parent, and the parent will be notified of the urinalysis results.

“How hard a parent pushes will certainly be a factor in a student’s decision to get involved,” Burton said.

Organizers of the program at Edison High School agree, noting that the lack of parental involvement has been something of “a weak link” in Huntington Beach.

“The problem is, a lot of people really don’t believe, or don’t want to believe, that their lovely daughter goes out and parties,” said Randy Williams, Edison’s athletic trainer. “So when they ask them, ‘Are you drinking or doing anything bad?’ and the kid says no, the parent believes them and it ends right there.”

Consequently, some parents either do not think the testing is necessary, or encourage their child to sign up and then fail to follow through with the screening when the family’s name is drawn.

“What we need to do is reach out to those parents and let them know that the $17.50 we charge for the test is just as important as the $15 they pay for gym shorts,” Williams said. “It’s a wrinkle we’re working on.”