Testing a valuable education tool

Driscoll Catholic High School initiated a mandatory drug testing policy this August.

Statistics from a study conducted by the University of Michigan indicated that 20-30 percent of 15-year-olds and 50 percent of 18-year-olds experimented with illegal drugs. Our goal is to be proactive and address this issue now rather than later. We are committed to guiding our students to be drug free.

Parents are looking to us for professional support and referral resource information to help with a drug issue. Our concern is for our students who may face challenges that become obstacles in reaching their goals in life.

Only about 5 percent of all high schools have such a program in place. The number of schools administering these tests is growing each year.

"This is the best new idea to reduce the onset of drug use," says Dr. Robert DuPont, president of the institute for Behavior and Health, a nonprofit drug policy organization that has studied school testing.

In 2002 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that schools may conduct random drug tests, it was a boon for parents and gives students another reason to say no. Now as parents we don't have to question some of the activities that our sons or daughters choose. We can rest assured that if our sons or daughters have chosen the wrong path, help is closer than we could imagine.

With the Illinois High School Association implementing its own drug testing policy for the tournament series, this goes hand and hand with our goals to help our students make good choices. In today's world it is too easy to believe that there is an easy way to be successful, but those who have been around for a while know that it takes dedication from the coaches to the student-athletes. Success does not come overnight.

This testing is another tool for us to use in teaching values, education and leadership.