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Chandler High School Students Face Up to Random Drug Testing

Posted on: Saturday, 11 March 2006, 18:00 CST

By Jennifer Pinner, The Tribune, Mesa, Ariz.

Mar. 11--Random drug testing is now a reality in the Chandler Unified School District.

Thirty-six students from Basha High School and 45 students from Chandler High School have already been tested under the district's new policy. Students are required to be tested if they are involved in an Arizona Interscholastic Association sport or nonathletic activity such as marching band, speech and debate or theater.

The district received a three-year grant worth more than $700,000 from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools last October. Testing began in January.

None of the Basha or Chandler high school students randomly chosen have tested positive for alcohol or drugs.

Even if a student's test confirms drug use, only parents, possibly a coach or adviser, assistant principal and program coordinator will know, said Regina Wainwright, the district's random student drug testing program director.

"It's purely on a very limited need-to-know basis," Wainwright said.

The drug testing company the district contracts with does the random sampling using names provided by the district. The names are sent to Wainwright for review the day before testing happens.

On the day of testing, the drug testing company sets up two trailers outside of the school -- one for the girls and one for the boys. The students are taken out of class and ushered to the trailers where they submit their sample.

Schools don't even know when their day for random drug testing will be, and Wainwright would not say when the next test would take place or how many more would take place over the rest of the school year.

But the secrecy ends once the trailers are on campus and the students are plucked out of classes. "It's supposed to be confidential, but the buzz was around campus . . . (with kids saying) 'Hey did you get drawn?' " said Chandler High School athletic director Dave Shapiro.

Shapiro has received more than 400 permission slips from parents allowing their teenagers to submit to testing.

For the most part, Shapiro said he thinks the program is a good one because it gives teens an excuse when they're offered alcohol or drugs.

"It's a tough time (with) a lot of peer pressure and parties," he said. "It gives a chance for kids to say 'No, I can't do that.' "

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Tribune, Mesa, Ariz.

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Source: The Tribune

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