Warren
Hills examines expanded drug testing
Sunday, January 29, 206 • By
LYNN OLANOFF • The Express-Times
Like neighboring high schools, Warren
Hills Regional School District officials are considering a
widespread random drug-testing program at their high
school.
Voluntary drug testing for high school
athletes has long been in place at Warren Hills, but an
expanded program being considered would require all athletes
and students who participate in clubs or who park their cars
on campus to be tested. Hackettstown, North Hunterdon,
Voorhees and Hunterdon Central high schools have identical
drug-testing programs.
"As a deterrent, it's important," Warren
Hills Superintendent Peter Merluzzi said. "We're not any
different from any school drugs and alcohol are a part of
the culture, though not a great percentage,
thankfully."
Warren Hills officials have wanted
widespread random drug testing for many years, Merluzzi
said, but they waited until the court battle over Hunterdon
Central's drug-testing program was finished. The New Jersey
Supreme Court in 2003 upheld the district's
program.
Warren Hills will hold public forums on
expanding its drug-testing program this spring with hopeful
implementation in the fall, Merluzzi said.
Drug testing has so far been effective in
deterring drug use among the school's athletes in the
voluntary program, Principal Thomas O'Brien said. About 600
of the school's 900 athletes are in the program and in the
past year, only one athlete has tested positive, he said.
O'Brien said he did not know which drug the student tested
positive for.
"It gives them an opportunity to say,
'No, the activities I'm involved in are more important,'"
O'Brien said.
Some parents attending sporting events at
the high school Thursday night said they support random drug
testing.
"I think it's a good idea. If they have
nothing to hide, then why not do it?" said Sandy Havrisko,
of Mansfield Township. Her son, Andrew, a basketball player,
is in the school's voluntary drug-testing
program.
Other student athletes who are in the
testing program had mixed feelings about it.
"That's all right because athletes
shouldn't be doing drugs anyway, it messes up their play,"
said sophomore basketball player Lorenz Gomez, 15, a
Washington resident.
Cheerleaders Erica Washkwich and Emily
Loth said they saw some merit in the drug testing, but also
had some concerns regarding privacy.
"It could be a good idea because athletes
really shouldn't be on drugs," said Washkwich, 16, a junior
from Washington Township. "It's making people be a lot more
cautious."
"It's also a personal decision," chimed
in Loth, a 16-year-old sophomore from Mansfield.
Reporter Lynn Olanoff can be reached at 908-475-8044 or by
e-mail at lolanoff@express-times.com.
© 2006 The Express-Times. Used with
permission.
|