Middletown district mulls prescription drug testing
Steroids not included due to high cost of testing
BY JAMIE ROMM Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN — The township school district is currently weighing whether or not to add prescription drugs to its random drug testing policy.

The matter, which was presented by a panel of school administrators at the Board of Education's Nov. 19 meeting, was brought up, according to school officials, due to concern that prescription drug abuse is becoming a problem.

"The purpose was to include prescriptions because of a rise of use and abuse of prescription drugs, which is something that I've been hearing through work with the municipal alliance," said Schools Superintendent Karen Bilbao. "We've been hearing that in our community, in our state and across the nation about this rise in prescription drug use. I asked the panel to come in tonight and talk about, including prescription drugs to our testing."

The district's drug panel included Michelle Molinaro, district nurse; Linda Minella, student assistance counselor; Kevin Haines, athletic director; and Tracey Maccia, assistant superintendent of pupil services and educational research.

Bilbao said that Haines was included on the panel to add to the discussion of including steroid testing, a drug that the panel ultimately decided would not be included due to the high cost factor of random testing for the banned substance.

"We'll keep it under the reason to suspect testing," Molinaro said. "With steroids, you can see a progression through physique and demeanor changes that you could see over time. To randomly test would be a high cost."

Minella said that she recently attended a seminar on the subject and was shocked by some of the numbers.

"There has been a rise of 300 percent in the last 10 years of prescription drugs," Minella said. "[Abuse of] prescription drugs are growing seven times faster than the actual population. It's become a very serious thing."

The test currently administered by the district identifies amphetamines, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, opiates, cocaine,

THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and alcohol through six panels on a dipstick that is used to test urine samples.

The new panel will include prescription drugs such as Xanax, Valium, Demerol and Pinercocets.

"Other than marijuana, prescription drugs are the second most used drugs by teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17," Molinaro said. "They are starting as young as 12 years old and there are statistics out there that show that one in five teenagers has experimented with prescription or overthe counter medications."

When the test is given, there are two results, a negative or a non-negative outcome.

In the case of a non-negative result, the lab forwards the information to an outside district medical review officer who then contacts the district requesting contact information for that student's household, without giving the results.

The officer then speaks with both the parent and student, and determines whether a true positive has registered on the test, or if the student is using the drug as prescribed.

The student will not suffer any consequences if the drugs are properly prescribed.

The district's current random drug testing policy takes all ID numbers of high school students at each school, who participate in sports, extracurricular events, or who park on campus, and are entered into a pool, from which 10 percent are pulled and tested annually.

"I just felt that these students, if they know that things are changing, they are going to be more aware," Minella said said. "We are not out to get them and catch them, we are here to keep them safe."

Any student who tests with a confirmed positive result through the testing procedures will receive appropriate intervention designed by a substance awareness coordinator.

Students are not suspended from school or subject to police notification procedures.

Minella said that the major problem is that the drugs are too accessible.

"The problem is that some students think the drugs are safe because they are in their medicine cabinets," Minella said. "We have to educate parents not to keep these things in the cabinet because what they do is take handfuls of the pills and take them. They have no idea what they are taking and it's become a very serious thing."

Board member Sherry Gevarter said that the major problem is that the board can't get parents to come out to public hearings on the matter.

"We can't get them here, so we have to go to them," Gevarter said.

Bilbao said that getting parents' attention is part of the problem but there is no way to force a parent to come to a public meeting.

"We can't mandate parents to come to meetings," Bilbao said.

According to the district, information on the drug testing policy would be sent out in student progress reports so that the information reaches parents.

Board member Joan Minnuies said that the reason for testing is to help the students.

"Our goal for the random is not to punish the kids, but to get them the help that they need," Minnuies said.

Bilbao said that taking away extracurricular activities is not the most important result of a positive test.

"It's about making the parents aware and sometimes that's the only outcome when a student isn't involved in any activity," Bilbao said. "But the outcome of a positive test may be just that the parents finds out what their child has been doing and now they know and have a choice on how they will intervene. We will recommend counseling with the student's assistance counselor."

Gevarter said that knowing that they would be taken out of a sport or club should deter a student from thinking about taking drugs or drinking alcoholic beverages.

"It's also meant to be a deterrent and a crutch for the kid to be able to say, 'You know I have a big state championship game and this is too important, so I don't want to take a chance and drink tonight or take drugs.'" Gevarter said. "If they call my number, I am out of that game. It's meant to give a kid a reason not to make the mistake."

Bilbao said a decision would not be made until after the district conducts a survey of a percentage of eighth- through 12th-graders in May, the same procedure the district used before initiating its drugtesting policy in 2006.

After receiving the data, which according to the district would most likely not be received until the end of summer 2009, officials will then decide whether or not to make changes to the existing policy.

Contact Jamie Romm at

jromm@gmnews.com.