Article

Recent overdoses and a notable bust provide impetus throughout county
Sunday, February 25, 2007 • BY LAURA JOHNSTON • Star-Ledger Staff

A year ago, Pequannock was the only Morris County school district to randomly test its students for drugs.

Now, driven by a countywide 10-year high in accidental drug overdose deaths and a high-profile prescription drug bust that included dozens of young people, more than a quarter of the county's districts with high schools -- plus one elementary school district -- are doing their homework on such policies.

"Because there's a belief it could be a potential benefit, I think it is something every district is probably looking at," said Mountain Lakes Superintendent John Kazmark, whose district is taking a look at drug testing as well.

While proponents believe the practice of schools randomly testing students for drugs will eventually be as universal as pre-employment drug screens for adults, the percentage of schools that test is still small -- 5 to 8 percent nationally, according to experts.

And testing opponents argue it's a waste of money, as well as a privacy violation. The school district of the Chathams and Randolph vehemently oppose the practice, saying it undermines a school's credibility and doesn't work.

Much of the debate revolves around just that: Does it really work?

"I think that the jury is still out on a definitive yes or no," said Charles Shaddow, superintendent of the North Hunterdon-Voorhees Regional High School District, now in its third year of testing. "We need to look at every possible device in order to prevent students from using drugs and alcohol."

The Hanover Park Regional High School District committed to drug testing this fall after three recent graduates died of drug overdoses, and more than 50 teenagers and young adults were charged after a July oxycodone bust. Another impetus: 44 people died of accidental drug overdoses in Morris County last year.

Kinnelon, Parsippany and West Morris Regional districts are also considering it, officials said, and the Hanover Township school board is collecting information for a possible program at Memorial Junior School, which has grades six through eight.

The schools would join Pequannock, and at least 15 other school districts statewide that already randomly test students, according to the New Jersey School Boards Association, which does not keep hard statistics on the trend.

NO ONE WANTS TO BE FIRST

In Sussex, Sparta has been discussing random drug testing for more than five years. And in Warren County, Hackettstown is in its third year of testing at its high school, its first at the middle school.

"As it gets out more, I think there are more districts considering it," said William Trusheim, principal of Pequannock Valley Middle School, which began testing in fall 2005. "This isn't just in New Jersey, this is at a national level. ... There's a definite interest."

There's been steady chatter about randomly testing students who participate in athletics and extracurricular activities and those who park on campus since 2002, when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the practice, experts say.

Few schools took the plunge originally, but now random testing is cropping up in pockets, spread by one neighboring district to the next.

"Nobody wants to be the first one to do anything. You want to see if it works," said Matt Franz of Sport Safe Testing Service Inc. in Ohio. "The best thing you can get is your neighboring principal to say, 'You wouldn't believe how the kids have changed.'"

NO PROOF TESTING WORKS

For a program to be effective, educators agree, schools must screen at least 10 percent of the pool, though districts like Pequannock and Hackettstown pledge to test at least 20 percent of eligible students.

Nationally, according to experts, fewer than 3 percent of students test positive.

That's the point, educators say. "The majority of kids are not drug users," said David Evans, executive director of the Flemington-based Drug Free Schools Coalition. "It helps those kids say no. ... It's an excuse to say no."

Opponents, including some students, think that strategy is pretty silly. They point to suspicion-based drug testing -- allowed in every school by state law -- which turns up many more positives.

"There is absolutely no reliable data that mandatory drug testing works," said Gregory Mark, a Randolph school board member. "A district gets enormous political pressure because there's a drug incident. Everybody says, 'You've got to do something,' and this is their reaction."

The American Academy of Pediatrics, National Education Association, National Association of Social Workers, American Civil Liberties Union and Drug Policy Alliance, among others, have sided against random drug testing, arguing that it is ineffective and expensive, tests the wrong kids, and violates privacy.

LOCAL SURVEYS SHOW RESULTS

Teenagers say the jocks and joiners shouldn't be the only ones targeted for drug tests. The courts allow only those groups to be tested, saying extracurricular activities are privileges and therefore the school can set conditions on participation.

"I think everyone pretty much agrees, you're testing the wrong people," said Arianna Garutti, a senior at Voorhees High School who tested negative her sophomore year.

"If you're doing drugs, it's going to affect your game, so I would think you would not do drugs, right from the get-go," said Garutti, a member of the color guard, Equestrian Club, Model U.N., National Honor Society and Peer Mentoring Program. "If it was schoolwide, you might catch kids."

They even argue that the threat of being tested could stop a student who occasionally smokes marijuana from going out for a sports team or joining a club -- activities likely to discourage drug use.

National studies are inconclusive about whether testing deters drug use. But at Hunterdon Central, a 1999 survey showed that after two years of random drug testing of athletes (about half the students), the number of multidrug users in the high school decreased by an average of 56 percent.

A survey at Hackettstown High School last spring also shows a decrease in drug use.

The portion of seniors who had tried marijuana in the past year dropped from 45 percent in 2004 -- before the school began drug testing -- to 29 percent in 2006. The percentage of seniors who had tried cocaine decreased from 12 percent to 10 percent.

CHEAP TESTS, BIG IMPACT

Each week at Hackettstown High, about six students are called to the nurse's office when random numbers matched to their names are selected. In a private bathroom, a urine sample is collected, then the student watches while the nurse tests it with a dipstick.

If the test is negative, as has been every test but one in the past 2 1/2 years, students are sent on their way. If it's positive, the sample is sent to a laboratory for further testing.

"It's by far the most effective preventative program I've seen, especially for the money it costs," said Stacy Heller, the student assistance counselor at Hackettstown High School.

"You can run a whole drug testing program for a school of my size cheaper than a one-day seminar. Random drug testing will affect the kids every day. Those assemblies, the impact may last a couple of days."

At Pequannock Valley -- one of the first middle schools in the state to start random testing -- about 500 of the 600 students volunteered to take part in the testing pool, said John Graf, a retired teacher who serves as the program administrator.

Since drug testing began in fall 2005, no middle school students have tested positive, he said. Only two high schoolers have tested positive.

"Slowly, but surely, the evidence seems to be mounting that this works," said Graf, who regularly fields information requests from other districts. "It becomes hard to argue that you shouldn't be trying to do more."

More schools are weighing random drug testing

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