Garden Spot High School students can expect a random drug testing program to be adopted and in place when extra-curricular activities begin this summer.

Eastern Lancaster County School District superintendent Robert Hollister submitted a final proposal to the board Monday to hire Worknet of Leesport to do the testing.

Rita Lebo, director of Drug & Alcohol Services at Worknet, told the board the company follows drug testing guidelines requirements established by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Transportation.

If approved, random testing will occur on the secondary level in any athletic organization and any extra- or co-curricular activity in which the activity's adviser is compensated by the school district.

"Compensation of an adviser sort of gives legitimacy to the organization," Hollister said. "I thought that was a good way to define what constitutes a formally recognized organization and activity."

Hollister said he preferred not to disclose how many random tests — where Worknet employees would take and seal two urine samples from randomly tested subjects — would occur. In the event of a positive test, the second sample would be set aside for the parents of that student, who may choose to send it to another lab for testing.

The board will vote on the proposal on June 20.

Random drug testing will detect trace amounts of amphetamine, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, cocaine, marijuana, methadone, methaqualone, opiates, phencyclidine and propoxyphene. Those tests would uncover the use of such widely abused drugs such as ecstasy, oxycodone and others.

Hollister said the district ditched plans to test for anabolic steroids. Worknet currently does not have the equipment to test for steroids and would require that samples be sent to a second lab and cost about $100 per test.

Board member Dr. Heidi Zimmerman, a medical doctor, expressed concerns that students using prescribed drugs such as Ritalin could return a positive result creating the same "fallout" as someone suspected of using an illegal drug.

Lebo said students who are subject to testing must submit a physician's note detailing drugs prescribed to them. In the event of a positive test, a Worknet review officer would contact the school for confirmation about any drug found in a student's system.

Board president Glenn Yoder conveyed a concern about the confidentiality of student medical records and related potential liabilities.

"The records are kept in a sealed envelope and kept in a sealed area; they are not opened," Lebo said. "At the end of the school year they are destroyed."

Hollister said the annual cost of the program would be between $5,000 and $6,000.

At least six other school districts — Conestoga Valley, Hempfield, Lampeter-Strasburg, Manheim Township, Penn Manor and Solanco — have some level of drug testing in place, according to newspaper records.