VENTURA : Drug Testing for Sports Teams OKd

Saying that they want to motivate student athletes to abstain from drug use, the Ventura Unified School District has approved a voluntary drug testing program for sports teams at Ventura and Buena high schools.

The board voted 5 to 0 Tuesday to launch the program immediately.

Ventura High Principal Hank Robertson told the board that the voluntary, random drug testing is intended to steer athletes away from using drugs.

“We see it as an additional way for kids to say ‘no,’ ” Robertson said.

Under the program, officials at Buena and Ventura high schools will ask athletes who want to volunteer for drug testing to sign up for the program and get written consent from their parents.

Buena High Principal Jaime Castellanos said the schools may also ask students who decline to participate to present a written statement from their parents.

With the cooperation of a local drug rehabilitation program, each school will test 50 athletes per school year.

A school nurse or other school official assigned to run the program will give numbers to participating students and put the numbers in a jar. Each week, the nurse will pull numbers from the jar and call those students in for urine tests. But only the drug rehabilitation program officials running the tests will know the results.

If any test results show drug use, drug treatment counselors will call parents, not coaches or other school officials, Castellanos said.