At Green Valley High, play sports, you may face drug test

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Green Valley High School will randomly test students for drug use, making it the first public Clark County campus to implement such a policy.

All student athletes will be required to take part, as well as other students whose parents want them added to the pool, according to a letter sent home to families.

“Over the past few years, our Green Valley family has endured its share of disheartening situations that have been brought on by drug and alcohol abuse,” Principal Jeff Horn wrote in the letter, mailed over the winter break. “We feel that as a school we are not doing enough to help our students.”

Horn declined to comment Monday, saying he wanted to wait until a parent meeting Wednesday to publicly address the proposal. In his letter, Horn points out that Green Valley ranks high for its academic and athletic performance and the music program has earned national honors.

Last spring, Horn formed a committee of parents, teachers, administrators and community members to “identify and help students locked in the grip of addiction as well as random drug use,” according to the letter. The random drug testing proposal grew out of the committee’s work.

The letter does not cite any specific incidents related to drug use at the Henderson campus. For the 2006-07 academic year, 28 Green Valley students were cited for having or using alcohol on campus, accounting for more than 10 percent of the incidents reported districtwide, according to an annual accountability report. Additionally, 19 students were cited for distributing a controlled substance. Only one district high school had a higher tally Desert Pines, with 28 citations for alcohol, 20 citations for distributing a controlled substance and one citation for possessing a controlled substance.

It is unclear how many of the students cited were involved in campus sports because the district does not track data that way.

In 2003, a Green Valley sophomore crashed his car into a concrete wall, killing two classmates and a student from Coronado High School. Sean Larimer’s blood-alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit for adults.

There have been other less deadly but still troubling episodes, according to a district administrator who asked not to be identified. Several involved Green Valley athletes being caught with drugs and alcohol while on school-sponsored trips.

Edward Goldman, associate superintendent of education services for the School District, said student drug use in the district includes alcohol, marijuana, performance-enhancing steroids and heroin.

Horn’s proposal to test students is reasonable, Goldman said.

“Playing is a privilege,” Goldman said. “This way students know if they are randomly tested and caught, their (athletic) careers are going to be over.”

The U.S. Supreme Court has deemed random drug testing of students participating in sports or other activities constitutional, said Allen Lichtenstein, senior counsel for the Nevada ACLU.

But “this sort of feel-good measure doesn’t do anything to help anybody,” he said. “All it does is ensure that a kid who might get involved in drugs will go further away from school activities, which actually might help somebody keep from taking drugs in the first place.”

There is no research showing that random testing reduces drug use by students, Lichtenstein said.

Schools in other districts, particularly private schools, have had random testing programs. In Clark County, Bishop Gorman High School has tested its student body for the past three years. And Faith Lutheran Junior-Senior High School has randomly tested students in grades 7-12 for the past five years, said Executive Director Kevin Dunning.

Faculty and staff must also submit to random testing, Dunning said.

Faith Lutheran tests about 18 students each month, at a cost of $30 per test. The results are shared with Dunning and the student’s parents. “Our response is not punitive,” Dunning said. “We try to support the student and their family and get them help.”

Some of the specifics of the Green Valley plan were unknown Monday, including how many students will be tested, how often the tests will be done and who will have access to the results.

At Green Valley, junior Ronnie Chwasz said he had no problem with random testing, particularly for performance-enhancing drugs.

“Steroids are kind of like cheating,” said Chwasz, who plans to join the track team when the season begins next month. “You aren’t allowed to play if they catch you cheating in any other way.”

His mother, April O’Donnell, agreed.

“I have no problem with this at all,” she said. Jordayne Echols, a sophomore soccer player at Green Valley, said the testing shouldn’t be limited to athletes.

“If they’re going to test us, they should test everybody,” Echols said.

But Michael Kelly, a freshman on Green Valley’s football team, said he opposes random testing because it’s an invasion of privacy.

It’s just a bad idea,” said Kelly, shaking his head. “A really bad idea.”