Steroids: To Test or To Educate? (continued)

Polk’s Test Case

But some districts do test for drugs, including steroids. What sets them apart? How do their programs work? Are they effective?

The Polk County School District in Bartow, Fla. is one of the largest in the state, with more than 92,000 K-12 students. Testing for recreational drugs began there in 1997 as a pilot project at one high school. Reported drug use dropped 25 percent, prompting the district in 2004 to seek a $240,000 federal grant to expand the testing to all students taking part in extracurricular activities.

When school leaders realized last year they would not expend all of their grant monies, they expanded testing to include steroids after polling parents and the community. There were no objections.

“Testing works here because there's strong, overall support from the school board, the superintendent and the community,” said Audrey Kelly-Fritz, senior manager of prevention, health and wellness. “People ask us why we don't test everybody."

Kelly-Fritz said the district’s goal is to randomly drug test roughly 4,600 students over the course of the school year, about 40 percent of the students participating in district-sanctioned sports. Five percent of those tested also would be examined for steroid use. The steroid test costs $100; the standard drug test is $18. So far, said Kelly-Fritz, all has gone well.

“There's been little negative response,” she said. “Parents are obviously in favor; students learn to live with it. They accept testing as a requirement for playing, just as they accept that they must wear their hair only to a certain length. All part of the rules of play.

“We think testing works. Our surveys show there’s reduced use of marijuana and alcohol,” she adds. “And we haven’t had any positive steroid tests.”

Polk’s grant money runs out with the end of the 2005-06 school year, but Fritz-Kelly hopes alternative funding sources can be found. Chances look good. Polk’s experiment with steroid testing has encouraged Florida state legislators to consider expanding steroid testing to all high schools in the fall of 2006, assuming they can find the money.

A Voluntary Process

Bernard DuBray, superintendent of the Fort Zumwalt School District, likes drug testing of students so much he’s tried it twice.

Fort Zumwalt is a suburban school district outside St. Louis. Its 18,700 students make it the sixth largest in Missouri. From 1997 to 2003, the district successfully operated a testing program for recreational drug use (but not steroids). Testing was dropped in 2003 due to budget constraints.

“We were pleased with the program. It was doing what we wanted. It ended strictly for financial reasons,” said DuBray.

When monies became available again in 2005, DuBray and the school board were quick to resume drug testing, with a steroid component added. “We didn’t think there was a lot of abuse here, but steroids is a problem and it seemed a good thing to send the message that abusing steroids was as unacceptable as abusing street drugs,” he said.

The Fort Zumwalt drug-testing program is voluntary, at least in the sense that if students want to play interscholastic sports, they must accept testing. “That’s the beauty of it,” said DuBray. “If they don’t want to participate in the testing, if they object for whatever reason, they don’t have to participate in sports.”

Roughly 75 percent of Fort Zumwalt’s secondary school students agree to the possibility they may be asked to turn over a urine sample for testing during their season of competition.

Students and their parents are required to attend an educational session on steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. Each week, athletic directors at the district’s three high schools randomly pull the names of five students. These 15 students submit to a standard drug test administered by a private lab. Three to five of the students are also tested for steroids.

DuBray said the steroid tests have produced only a few positives. “If a kid does test positive, the results are known only by the athletic director, the student and his parents,” said DuBray. “The student is then offered therapy and counseling. They are not immediately kicked off the team.”

Those students are given a second test 30 days later. If the student tests positive again, he or she is removed from the team.

DuBray believes steroid testing works because it provides “another reason for students to say no. They can tell their friends they can’t risk it, that they could be tested at any time. You’d be surprised at how many kids just need that little something extra to resist peer pressure.”

Despite its apparent success and mostly favorable publicity, Fort Zumwalt’s drug testing program has not spawned imitation. “There’s been some interest and inquiries from surrounding school districts,” said DuBray, “but nobody has followed through. I think the price tag has something to do with it.”

The testing program costs Fort Zumwalt about $20,000 annually.