More student drug tests possible at district

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT-MESA -- At least one member of the Newport-Mesa Unified School

District Board of Trustees says random drug testing on students

participating in extracurricular activities could be adopted as early as

this year.

The testing could be rolled into the district’s zero-tolerance policy,

which lays out standards for student conduct.

Trustee Serene Stokes called for the testing Friday, one day after the

U.S. Supreme Court, in a ruling, endorsed it for high school and middle

school students.

“It will probably be incorporated [into that policy],” Stokes said.

“If we find the student is using drugs, we may transfer them, but we also

insist they get drug treatment.”

If the district goes ahead with the testing, anyone from the high

school quarterback walking onto the football field to the seventh-grader

heading to his first school dance could be asked to submit to a

urinalysis test.

Students found to be using marijuana, cocaine, steroids or other

illegal substances can be expelled or transferred to other district

schools.

The district’s zero-tolerance policy has long been a controversial

rule because of its hard-line standards. It calls for the immediate

suspension and transfer of any student caught with, or under the

influence of, drugs or alcohol. Most recently, the board added an

anti-bullying provision.

On Thursday, the high court upheld the drug testing policy by a school

board in Tecumseh, Okla. That board implemented the policy in 1998 after

members voiced concerns about drug use in the district.

Newport-Mesa officials have been randomly testing student athletes,

Stokes said.

One parent, Michelle Mutzke, said she supported drug testing and

agreed that athletes shouldn’t be singled out. Mutzke’s daughter plays

tennis at Corona del Mar High School.

“I think drug testing is a good idea,” said Mutzke, also a past

president of the Corona del Mar High School PTA. “I just wonder how you

do it fairly without some parent going ballistic.”

The high court, in 1995, upheld a ruling allowing testing of athletes.

Trustee Dana Black took a somewhat more cautious approach than Stokes.

Black said she needs more information about how the policy would be

implemented before she endorses it.

“I’d like to make sure we’re consistent,” Black said. “I don’t want to

be drug testing every child.”

It remains unclear what specific substances the school could test for.

One area that remains murky is the use of growth supplements by high

school athletes. Some of these substances have been suspected of having

adverse health effects.

Black said her own son had asked her, several years ago, if he could

use the growth supplement creatine. Major league slugger Mark McGwire

admitted to using the substance in 1998, when he slugged a then-record 70

home runs.

After some exhaustive research, Black said she urged her son against

the use of the substance.

* Paul Clinton covers the environment, John Wayne Airport and

politics. He may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail ato7

paul.clinton@latimes.comf7 .