Sean C. Morgan
Sweet Home High School began drug testing athletes last week as part of a new policy implemented this school year.
The School Board approved the new policy in May.
Athletic Director Steve Brown said the school tested 22 students on Sept. 14.
The school will test every athlete at the beginning of each season, Brown said. SHHS has about 200 athletes participating in the fall season, including dance, cheer, football, cross country, volleyball and soccer.
“We’ve started,” Brown said. “It’s just a matter of we’ve never done it before.”
That means the school staff who are conducting the testing are ironing out the process and finding ways to make it smoother as they go, he said. They’re taking small bites, “figuring out what works and what doesn’t.”
On future test dates, for instance, Brown said he plans to have a big container of water available. Bottled water is expensive.
Sometimes, students aren’t able to take the test, he said, so they need to drink some water. Once they’ve been summoned for a test, he cannot let them leave and return later.
He said the school will test all athletes each season. During the season, depending on how many tests the school has available, the school will conduct random testing.
The school is slow testing the athletes right now because the sports schedules are busy, Brown said. Tuesday through Friday are game days.
He hopes next year to have most of the testing done before the sports season starts, Brown said.
“Kids are asking, ‘When are you going to start testing us?’” Brown said.
He said testing helps athletes in a couple of ways.
The testing gives athletes who test clean the confidence to know their teammates are clean, and they can count on each other, Brown said. It also helps them stay off of drugs.
“If that means they can use that to say no to (drugs), that gives them another tool in their belt,” Brown said.
During the School Board’s regular meeting on Sept. 12, board member Chanz Keeney asked why Sweet Home Junior High School athletes weren’t included in the policy. He had also asked that question in May, when the board voted on the policy.
Then-Supt. Keith Winslow said he submitted the proposal without junior high athletes because he was more comfortable the first year trying it out at the high school and then perhaps adding junior high athletes next year.
In response to Keeney’s question at last week’s board meeting, an audience member responded that school officials perhaps didn’t believe it was as much an issue at the junior high level compared to the high school level.
Keeney said that drugs are an issue at the junior high level.
“I need to go back and read the minutes, research what the board policy intent was,” said Supt. Tom Yahraes, who succeeded Winslow this year. “The first step is understanding the minutes, the policy and intent of the policy. I need some time to thoroughly research the policy, the intent of the policy to provide an educated response.”
According to the policy, drug testing will provide for student health and safety, undermine the effects of peer pressure and encourage treatment programs at parent expense for student participants with substance abuse problems.
No participant shall be penalized academically for testing positive for illegal or performance-enhancing drugs.
Test results will not be documented in student records. Information regarding the results will not be disclosed to criminal or juvenile authorities without a valid and binding subpoena or other legal process, which the district will not solicit.
In the event of a subpoena or other legal process, the district will provide notice to a student’s parents at least 72 hours prior to releasing the information.
Under the administrative rule, which implements the policy, each student wishing to participate in athletics or extracurricular activities and the student’s parents must consent in writing to drug testing. Without the consent, no student is permitted to participate in athletics.
Selection for random testing during a season of athletics or activities is by lottery from all students in programs at the time of the drawing.
The person drawing names will have no way of knowingly choosing or failing to choose particular students for testing.
The selection process must be observed by two adults.
Samples will be collected at a mutually convenient time on the same day the student is selected or, if absent, the day the student returns to school.
If a student is unable to produce a sample at any particular time, the student will remain, drink water and wait until able to provide the sample.
All students selected for testing will have the option to provide the samples in private.
Students who refuse to provide a sample will be considered to have tested positive.
Students testing positive may request a second test to be administered within 72 hours of positive test notification. The student may voluntarily disclose prescription medications that may affect the outcome of the test.
If the second sample tests negative, the student and parent will be notified and no further action taken. If the second test is positive, the district will schedule a meeting with the student, the parents and the principal or designee.
For a first offense, the student will be suspended from participation in all games and activities for two weeks. The participant must miss at least one contest.
Following a second positive result, the student will be suspended from activities for the remainder of the season or eight weeks, whichever is longer. If less than eight weeks remain in the season, the suspension will resume the first week of contests in the next season or year the student participates.
Following a third positive result, the student will be suspended for the remainder of the current season and the next two seasons. That can be reduced to two total seasons if the athlete completes eight weeks of counseling outside Sweet Home High School, appeals to the athletic director and submits to a drug test upon reinstatement and additional period testing.
The administrative rule provides an appeal process to the superintendent and then the School Board.
In addition to testing for drugs, Sweet Home High School is in its second year of testing athletes to establish a baseline for use in investigating the impact of concussions when athletes hit their heads.
The Oregon Student Activities Association warned districts last year that it would begin requiring the testing this school year, Brown said, so he began the testing last year.
The tests measure memory and other information to establish a baseline for each athlete, Brown said. After a concussion, the school can test again to measure the impact of the concussion on memory, verbal and visual abilities, motor control and impulse control.
The baseline test is good for two years, Brown said, so this year, he is testing freshman athletes and new students. Next year, he will test freshmen, juniors and new students.