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Athletic directors favor drug testing
Published Tuesday, June 30, 2009
All six county high school athletic directors would be in favor of a countywide drug testing program for student athletes.
Chilton County High principal Greg DeJarnett and athletic director/football coach Brian Carter took a proposal to the county board of education on June 16 that would allow testing to be implemented at CCHS.
“One of the biggest things we were concerned with is their health,” Carter said. “As hot as it is, we don’t know if they’re putting things in their bodies that are going to make their heart beat faster. We know that kids these days do a lot of things just to try it.”
DeJarnett’s and Carter’s proposal was based on a testing program in place at Hoover City Schools, which includes Spain Park, where Carter was an assistant before being named coach at CCHS last year.
“It’s a preventative measure,” Carter said. “We’re not trying to catch somebody doing drugs; we’re trying to make them think about it beforehand and prevent it.”
Superintendent of Education Keith Moore said testing at CCHS could be used as a pilot program.
“The Board is looking it over, and we’ll bring it up at the [July 21] meeting,” Moore said.
One sticking point could be who foots the bill for the testing. Moore said the public funds generated through county taxes could be off limits for such a purpose, likely leaving athletic booster clubs to pay for the tests.
Despite any potential hurdles, all five other ADs in the county—Isabella’s Lanny Jones, Jemison’s Brad Abbott, Maplesville’s Brent Hubbert, Thorsby’s Billy Jackson and Verbena’s Mike Harris—said they would be in support of a countywide testing program.
Hubbert even said he proposed to the Board such a program while coaching at Jemison in 2001 or 2002. Parents of Maplesville athletes must sign a handbook, which includes a passage about the athletic department having the right to test for drugs.
The only concern expressed by any of the athletic directors was that the tests would truly be administered fairly and randomly.
“You would just have to make sure everybody was on the same page and that there was a level playing field, so to speak,” Harris said.
Jones in 2005 coached at Calera, a part of the Shelby County school system that tests athletes randomly.
“In this time of your life, you have the chance to change the way you’ve been doing things,” Jones said. “I’d be for it, but there would have to be some kind of support system for afterward, to help that person change.”
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Posted by DCZ70 (anonymous) on June 30, 2009 at 11:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I would like to see this happen,because in the long run this could really help the kids who get caught and may prevent some kids from ever trying it.
Posted by THORSBYishome (anonymous) on July 1, 2009 at 3:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I think that this is a GREAT idea for athletes and if it saves just ONE life it will well be worth it.
Posted by KatherineReece (anonymous) on July 1, 2009 at 5:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I want to be clear that I do think that this could be a good idea, but, the funding could be a problem. I don't have a child in the school system anymore so I'm not sure what the financial situation is with either public funds or the booster clubs. Depending on how many times a year the students would be tested this could get quite expensive.
I'm also not sure just how much help this would be, urine tests are the least expensive and simplest to implement and therefore the most likely testing method but most drugs are out of a user's system fairly quickly. Cocaine isn't detected after four days or so, meth is four days, opiates about three days and alcohol a matter of hours. Only pot has a long-ish detection time frame of anywhere from 10-30 days depending on the amount of fatty tissue on the student, and considering we're talking athletes I'd assume that would be on the lower end. Here's the link where I found these time frames: http://tinyurl.com/3xdlu7
Again, this is a good idea, but it will have to be a very well thought out and well funded program.
Posted by REK1138 (anonymous) on July 1, 2009 at 11:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The first time one of these' programs star football player is disqualified due to random drug testing this program will end faster Obama's tax cuts for the middle class. We like the concept of preventing drug abuse but I wonder if we'll like the concept of ruining a teenager's potential sports career over a failed drug test or worse, ruining a potential shot at the playoffs or beating your hated rivalry. Likely not.
In Shelby County, athletes are tested randomly and the results are sent directly to coaches who are then given the responsibility of implementing any punishment. As you can imagine, in terms of starting football players, the punishment is light or nonexistent. I would suspect our county would implement something similar - something to make us all feel better and make great headlines for the Advertiser but in reality is pointless and a complete waste of time and money.
Posted by kittycreek (anonymous) on July 1, 2009 at 4:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Obama's tax cuts didn't end, so you contradicted your own point. However, I, too, would be concerned about ethical prioritizing when it come to winning the competition or disciplining our "star" athletes for failing their drug test.
Posted by chilton77 (anonymous) on July 1, 2009 at 7:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I have a son on the football team and I think this is a great idea. Anything to help control our teenagers nowadays I am all for and I don't give a crap what the kids think about it. Plus, they better get used to it b/c most places of employment have new hire as well as random drug testing as a requirement.
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