Drug
testing to expand to middle school
Hackettstown district plans to
target younger students
Wednesday, November 30, 2005 • BY KATHLEEN G.
SUTCLIFFE • Star-Ledger Staff
A year after Hackettstown began random
drug testing for high school students, the district is
planning to expand the program in three ways, including
testing middle schoolers.
The district will use a $91,000 federal
grant to implement drug testing for middle school students,
increase the number of high school students who are randomly
tested and conduct an expansive study of student drug-use
trends.
Parents will be given their first
opportunity to comment on the proposed changes, which would
become effective next year, at a meeting at 7 p.m. Dec. 15.
The meeting in the middle school auditorium is the first in
a series of sessions the district will hold.
If the proposal is approved, Hackettstown
would join the Pequannock School District in Morris County,
which also conducts drug testing of middle school
students.
High school Principal Christina Steffner,
who has spearheaded the district's drug-testing program,
said beginning testing in high school can be too
late.
"By and large, drug use starts at the
middle school," Steffner said. "If you can delay the onset
of drug use or reduce the frequency, you lessen the chances
of addiction."
Testing among middle school students
would be voluntary, and parents would have to agree to
include their children in the testing pool, said middle
school Principal Michael Meyer. Drug testing would likely be
offered to the school's seventh- and eighth-grade students
and possibly to sixth-graders.
Also being considered is a plan to
increase the percentage of high school students tested from
10 percent to 25 percent.
"There's limited research that shows the
greater the pool is, the greater a deterrent it is," said
Stacy Heller, the high school's student assistance
counselor. "When you're pulling six people a week, people
are like, 'Hey, I might get tested.'"
Heller said the school also is
considering broadcasting the program's statistics,
announcing how many students have been tested each
week.
News of the proposed changes already has
begun circulating among high school students.
"The 1-in-4 (chance of being tested)
definitely scares students. Right now, it's a 1-in-10
chance," said junior Mackenzie Grambor, who is secretary of
the school's Future Farmers of America chapter. "You'd have
a greater risk of getting caught."
Under Hackettstown's current policy, high
school students who park on campus or participate in
extracurricular activities agree to be included in a random
drug testing pool.
Last year, 700 students composed the
pool. Of the 70 tested, one was positive.
The effectiveness of the school's program
has not been fully documented, Steffner said.
"In terms of anecdotal information, it
has had an impact," Steffner said. "It's easier for them to
say no. They can say, 'My coach will kill me. I have a big
scrimmage coming up.'"
A baseline survey conducted before the
program was instituted, during the 2003-04 school year,
found that 15 percent of Hackettstown High School's
then-seniors reported having used narcotics, excluding
heroin. Twelve percent reported having tried cocaine, and 5
percent reported having tried crack cocaine. Thirty percent
reported having done something sexual under the influence of
alcohol and later regretting it.
Steffner hopes to see at least a 5
percent decrease in drug use across the board.
Officials say the drug-testing program is
not meant to be punitive. Students who test positive are not
expelled, but they must attend counseling and pass a drug
test before being allowed to park on campus or participate
in extracurricular activities.
"I think we like to think that kids will
make decisions because they see the light," Steffner said.
"They make their decision because they feel the heat. Random
drug testing is a source of heat, but it doesn't burn
them."
Some students take another
view.
"I think it's horrible. It violates every
one of your rights as an American citizen" said high school
football player Rich Peter. "I don't see the need for it.
The school's not our parent."
© 2005 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with
permission.
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