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5-HT2A
Registered: 01/30/10 
Posts: 1,794
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Olentangy schools drop random drug tests
#14305490 - 04/17/11 10:29 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/04/17/copy/olentangy-schools-drop-random-drug-tests.html?adsec=politics&sid=101
Fifteen years ago, Olentangy was one of the first school districts in central Ohio to require its student-athletes to take random drug tests.
Now, a combination of budgetary belt-tightening and a growing disillusionment with the effectiveness of testing has led the district to scrap the $180,000 program next school year.
About 6,500 of the 10,000 athletes in grades seven through 12 were tested randomly each year, said Mark Raiff, executive director for secondary learning.
But testing wasn't stopping students from using drugs or alcohol. Each year, 10 to 15 students tested positive, Raiff said.
"I don't personally believe it was the mechanism to make kids stop using," he said. "I have three teenagers myself, and a middle-schooler. The fact that they were being randomly tested was not preventing them from using drugs. Their father was."
While some schools are cutting back, others have increased testing.
Marion County's Pleasant school district added nicotine two years ago to its drug screening of the 450 middle- and high-school students who play sports, participate in clubs or park on campus. And despite a levy defeat in November and the expiration of a grant that has paid for the $30,000 in testing costs, the district will continue to screen nearly all its 600 students by tacking a $60 fee onto the $500 pay-to-participate fee that starts in the fall.
"We think it's important for the safety and welfare of our students," said Superintendent Steve Larcomb. Students have an excuse to reject drugs and drinking if they have a drug test hanging over their heads, he said.
In the Groveport Madison district, the 150 students applying for school parking passes are tested, as are the nearly 500 athletes, said athletic director Mike George.
Students pay for the initial $27 test at the beginning of the season, and the schools pick up the $60,000 tab for additional random tests. Although only a handful of students are caught with a positive test each year, George said the administration has never considered cutting the program because of lack of money.
"I love the fact that it's a deterrent," he said. "However, would I say is it worth (the money)? I think that's up for debate."
Other schools have tried to avoid the complicated issue. The Worthington school district has never tested groups of students but introduced drug testing in 2007 as a punishment option. Any student who violates the district's drug, alcohol and tobacco policy has the option of being drug-tested and attending a 12-hour drug-awareness program in exchange for reduced discipline. A student caught with drugs in school, for example, could cut the suspension from five days to two.
"You don't get much bang for your buck" with testing all students, said Jim McElligott, director of student support. "It's $38 a pop (for each test), and if you have 75 percent of kids participating in after-school activities, it's a lot of money. We don't feel it's a good value, and it's also controversial. It's intrusive."
The Ohio High School Athletic Association doesn't track how many schools test student-athletes for drugs, but associate commissioner Debbie Moore said it appears anecdotally that few districts test students.
"We believe that, with the limited resources we have available, we want to put that into education," she said.
Those in the drug-treatment business say they understand the difficult decisions districts have to make regarding funding. But testing is an important part of an overall prevention and intervention strategy, said Paul H. Coleman, president and chief executive officer of Maryhaven, a treatment center.
"We wish we had the resources to help them," he said.
Of the 185 adolescents in Maryhaven's care, many have said that testing was a reason to say no to drugs or alcohol, Coleman said.
"Without question, the No. 1 reason young people use drugs is peer pressure," he said. "And if there is something that can intervene ... such as the ability to say, 'I can't use because I might have a drug test,' ... that's a good thing."
For Olentangy's drug-testing vendor, Sports Safe Testing Service in Powell, the loss of the district's business isn't just financial.
Dr. Joseph Franz, the founder of Sports Safe, helped draft the district's testing policy when his son Matt was a junior at the high school and he was the team physician.
"It's symbolically important to us," said Matt Franz, now the director of operations for Sports Safe, which has contracts with 90 school districts across the country. "This policy (in Olentangy) has been copied over and over again by schools all across the country."
Tim Price, the father of two athletes and president of the Olentangy High School athletic boosters, always appreciated the drug-testing program. But he pointed to the small number of students who tested positive each year.
"When you're looking at an annual expenditure of $180,000 and you're only seeing that kind of result, it's a want versus a need," he said. "It's one of the things that had to go."
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mikehauncho


Registered: 06/17/09
Posts: 567
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Re: Olentangy schools drop random drug tests *DELETED* [Re: 5-HT2A]
#14306120 - 04/17/11 12:38 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Post deleted by mikehaunchoReason for deletion: LE
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Led Zeppelin
Tripper


Registered: 05/17/10
Posts: 3,962
Last seen: 3 years, 4 months
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Re: Olentangy schools drop random drug tests [Re: mikehauncho]
#14306167 - 04/17/11 12:46 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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since when do schools have the right to do this shit!?
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dshow
Nomad



Registered: 01/22/09
Posts: 5,255
Last seen: 12 years, 2 months
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Re: Olentangy schools drop random drug tests [Re: Led Zeppelin]
#14307759 - 04/17/11 05:27 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Its complete bullshit. Waste of money. What are they trying to accomplish? It will never be completely drug free. they are fucking idiots.
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digitalemu
Digital Emu
Registered: 09/01/10
Posts: 302
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Re: Olentangy schools drop random drug tests [Re: dshow]
#14311466 - 04/18/11 11:29 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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If they would only focus on steroid use which actually affects sports and the players health, it would cost them a lot less. Why test for marijaunna, nicotine, alcohol use? What impact other than making you a lousy athelete would the majority of other non steroid drugs have in sports?
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Rabid Jelly Bean
Stranger



Registered: 01/25/10
Posts: 411
Loc: TX
Last seen: 10 years, 9 months
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Re: Olentangy schools drop random drug tests [Re: digitalemu]
#14312310 - 04/18/11 02:04 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
digitalemu said: If they would only focus on steroid use which actually affects sports and the players health, it would cost them a lot less. Why test for marijaunna, nicotine, alcohol use? What impact other than making you a lousy athelete would the majority of other non steroid drugs have in sports?
Exactly. If you are a lousy athlete you won't even be on the team long.
I'm wondering though, how many schools don't test for steroids but test for other drugs. Schools always turn a blind eye to the people on steroids. You can physically see that something isn't right about them.
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taterdb



Registered: 07/07/10
Posts: 157
Loc: rocky mountain high
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Ya know something occurred to me, not that i don't completely disagree with drug testing students, its a complete violation of their right to privacy, but the sports thing sort makes sense in that at least my high school sports team partied super hard on a few of our out of town trips.
we were all more concerned about getting caught by our parents than the school at the time, so we saw it as an opportunity to get fucked up, we were a bunch of out of control 15-18 year olds that got stoned and wasted in a strange town with almost no supervision, it was pretty bad.
Eventually some of the other kids did get caught, anybody else ever been breathalyzed and watched their friends get taken to jail on a school trip? Hurray for ski team!
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