Drug Testing athletes in school.

[mlittle]

Sure, all for it. Put my kid first in line right after all the teachers, staff, administration and BOE member. Soon as they get done she will be next up.

Haha! I like this.... a lot!

[danicalifornia]

Sure, all for it. Put my kid first in line right after all the teachers, staff, administration and BOE member. Soon as they get done she will be next up.

Haha! I like this.... a lot!

Only problem would be the financial side, but I agree.

My biggest issue with how drug testing has always been done in schools is that I’m not sure that I’ve ever heard of a kid getting caught.

[Otto]

Seems like a lot of holier-than-thou types on this board. I'm willing to bet most of you smoked a joint or at least had a beer at a party in high school. High school may have been a while ago for some of us, but let's not pretend we were all choir boys.

I think testing is a bit much, unless you go to high school in Detroit.

[mlittle]

Seems like a lot of holier-than-thou types on this board. I'm willing to bet most of you smoked a joint or at least had a beer at a party in high school. High school may have been a while ago for some of us, but let's not pretend we were all choir boys.

I think testing is a bit much, unless you go to high school in Detroit.

I never inhaled

[Shades]

I like the accountability of testing all, as opposed to how a lot of schools currently test. The "random" drug testing usually means picking the athletes that you know will pass. However, there are issues that need to be worked out. Most of which have already been pointed out.

1. Who pays for the testing
2. Test population (whole school/coaches and athletes/all extracurricular/ect.)
3. Are there statewide repercussions for failing?
4. Does each school regulate their own testing or does ODE/OHSAA regulate the testing at each member school?
5. What keeps a coach from playing the "star" athlete anyways if there is no way for an opposing school/coach to know who might have failed. Then you cross into a HIPPA issue.

[OSU22]

Seems like a lot of holier-than-thou types on this board. I'm willing to bet most of you smoked a joint or at least had a beer at a party in high school. High school may have been a while ago for some of us, but let's not pretend we were all choir boys.

I think testing is a bit much, unless you go to high school in Detroit.

I think this statement is a little out there. I mean know I went to school with a great group of athletes and we were all tight knit and close and we found other things to do with our time than "smoke a joint" or have a beer at a party.

I personally think drug testing at the high school level should be a mandatory thing because participating in an sort of extra curricular activity is an absolute privilege and most certainly not a right. You want to play? Great, pee in this cup. You don't wanna pee in the cup? Sorry bud, no place for you on this team.

My school has done drug testing for as long as I can remember, once for every athlete to start the season then randomly throughout the year.

[wrestlefan]

going to school is not an option
extra curricular activities are an option

testing a regular student is the same as testing a regular guy walking down the street

[ThirdandLong]

At my house that is my responsibility. I do not need the county tax payers to foot the bill for my responsibility. However, kudos to the schools that do.

[Raider6309]

Drug rates are down 50% since the 90's for teens. I'm all for drug testing the teachers and the administration tho. Reminds me of catholic schools making students do a breathalyzer while their parents are drinking liquor in the stands

[Momma]

I believe the testing is picked by school officials. It is no secret who does or dies not use drugs. The schools will not test a star athlete they know who is using. They put the sucess of thier program over the welfare of a child.

[wrestlefan]

momma-- that is a ridiculous statement
i know a local program that had the star player walk out of school and the program because he was called to test. it is all random draw.
making a blanket statement like that is unfair to the many that are trying to do it right

[svac83]

When Gallia academy had drug testing, it is my understanding they don’t anymore because of money but we they had it. It was random and worked. But I think a lot of you guys are missing the boat if you think a person should be kicked off team for testing positive. At Gallia academy if you tested positive. You were not allowed to participate for a percentage of your season I think it was 20%. This person was also set up with a counselor sent to school by woodland centers and had to attend so many counseling sessions before allowing to play.

They still practiced during this time. They just didn’t participate in game unless the student athlete told his teammates. No one was told do to privacy issues.

If your a star and your stupid enough to use drugs you probably deserve to get kicked off team. But not every kids who plays a sport is a star. A lot of these kids aren’t stars.

So let’s say your a kid at Portsmouth and your one of the last kids even on just bench as like a junior you like basketball your just not great at it. Your not in the jock crowd so you have a lot of friends who find trouble or smoke weed for fun. Even if that is not your thing. You give in one day to pear pressure and then get tested? You think your doing a good thing kicking that kid off the team?

Kicking him off the team is probably going to put him in the wrong crowd all the time... that team is what is giving him a chance to stay straight. We need to get these kids help not throw them off teams.

[svac83]

And Gallia did it by last number of social security number because they wanted someone from each team tested. If you only had like 5 golfers and none of them had the last digit drawn they kept drawing numbers until they got a golfer. Cheerleaders were also tested I do not know about band.

[Trojan_FB_Alum]

I am all for testing, but if it is done, it can not just be athletes, and it can not be your entire student body.
You have to go to school, it is a privilege to participate in athletics, and extra curricular. So if you don't participate in anything and you just want to be a burnout well I guess that's on you, odds are with as many different organizations there are if you cant find anything, you will probably end up a drain on society anyway. Those individuals that want to have the privilege of participating know that they are subject to random drug test, just like all of us that have the privilege of being gainfully employed are subject to random drug test. Keep them random, but across all extra curricular activities, I don't care if its the show choir, or the bible club, someone is peeing in a cup, only way to keep it fair.

I also liked the idea of not kicking them off, but requiring them to attend practice or meetings still, but not being able to compete in games competitions, shows, trips or whatever it maybe

[Rolltanks]

My wife teaches at Unioto and though it isn’t mandatory lot of the athletes participate in the drug free club. I doubt they could ever make it mandatory in a public school for every student to be tested. Possibly could make some sort of test to play thing but even that is very unlikely. Cost would have to be picked up by the state cause some schools can’t even afford sports without pay to play. If the state pays they need tax money that’s a lot of schools and lot of sports. Then there would be corruption all over the place. Imo the best they can do to kind of meet in the middle is offer something like the drug free club not mandatory and try to keep educating the kids and hope that the parents get more involved. Parents now days take little to no responsibility for raising there kids when they should be the most influential ppl in their kids lives at this time. Those same parents would try and sue the school for mandatory testing it’s just the world we live in today