Tampa Catholic High School Says Drug Testing Program Successful

TAMPA -- Out of the 120 students at Tampa Catholic High School randomly screened for drugs this past school year, not a single one tested positive, school administrators said today.

The testing program, the only one of its kind among Hillsborough County's public or private schools, will continue next year, even though Principal Pat Landry, is retiring.

The new principal, Tom Reidy, will carry the random drug screen torch when school starts in the fall, Landry said.

Landry has two weeks left before she draws the curtain on 17 years at Tampa Catholic. Students,of which there are about 800, are through with school for the summer. Only teachers and administrators remained there this week.

The principal said the idea to randomly test students has been kicking around for a few years and last year she decided to implement the plan.

"It worked out very positively," she said this afternoon. "We did not have a single student test positive, out of 120 students we tested."

Random meant random, she said. Tests were done unannounced at different times during different days of the week. Some students were tested more than once, just because of the randomness of it all, she said.

Selected students were called to the principal's office and submitted to a mouth swab. The sample was put into a vial and placed in its own envelope that was sent to a lab for analysis, she said.

The program was termed a success, she said.

"We will continue the way we've done it this year," Landry said.

In December, U.S. drug czar John P. Walters visited the school after hearing of the program. Students told him that the program was less of a hassle than initially thought, although some students said they thought their privacy had been invaded.

Landry said she had hoped the random drug test policy would provide students with an additional reason to say no to drugs. Despite concerns from parents about privacy, they all signed consent forms, giving permission for the random tests to be done.

In February 2007, the school announced it would begin random drug testing for all students in the fall. Most other schools do have random testing for athletes in certain programs, but none in Hillsborough County has random tests for all students.

The test screens for eight drugs. One positive test would result in counseling and follow-up testing. A second positive test would mean expulsion.

The program is modeled after a similar initiative at Clearwater Central Catholic High School, which began testing students in 2002. Clearwater Central Catholic tests 10 percent of its student body each year for alcohol and drugs, including Ecstasy, marijuana and cocaine.

In 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court decision allowed public schools to conduct random drug testing of athletes and that was expanded in 2002 to include students involved in extracurricular activities.

Tampa Catholic is part of the Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg, which leaves drug testing decisions to individual schools, diocesan officials said.