HUNTINGTON -- Fall sports seasons at Huntington High School and Cabell Midland High School officially open Monday, but before prospective athletes could take the field they had to go through a crash course on the new Cabell County random drug testing policy.
It turned out to be a lesson in health and sociology for many athletes.
Huntington High softball players Kiara Chappelle and Ashley Byrd were among nearly 1,000 students who attended the Wednesday orientation session in the HHS gymnasium, and instantly they got a surprise.
"At first, I didn't know if they were going to test everyone, but I guess they are just going to randomly pick," Chappelle said following the event.
A similar orientation meeting was conducted at Cabell Midland for students who participate in school-sponsored interscholastic extra-curricular activities and students who drive to school and park on campus. Students received drug testing consent forms to be signed and returned before they can participate.
Random drug testing will be conducted weekly during the school year. Penalties for positive tests will include notification of parent/guardian; two-week suspension from participation and complete suspension from all extra-curricular activities.
Chappelle and Byrd both said they weren't nervous at all about being tested, and that sparked a debate among surrounding parents as to why those students participating in sports or extra-curricular activities were the only ones being tested.
One Huntington High parent asked, "Where are all the other students who aren't participating in sports?"
To that Byrd answered, "They are at home laughing."
Byrd said although she wondered why athletes and those driving to school were the only ones who attended, she did not feel as though athletes had been singled out in the process.
Especially in the adolescent years, athletes are thought of as the "in crowd" at schools, and Todd Alexander, the administrative assistant for Cabell County secondary schools, said with that familiarity comes more pressure to act as the "in crowd."
Alexander and other members of the Cabell County Board of Education hope the random testing gives students who are feeling unwanted pressure a means to avoid difficult situations.
"The biggest thing is to give students an added incentive not to do drugs," Alexander said. "We are looking at that kid who is under a lot of peer pressure that is just looking for any reason to say no to save face with his peers."
Alexander said sometimes parents have a false sense of relief that active children are not using drugs or alcohol. He is hoping the testing provides some clarity for those parents.
Protecting the privacy of minors is one of the main issues with drug testing, but Cabell Midland athletic director and boys soccer coach Jack DeFazio said the plan was laid out so that the privacy of the athlete is respected under any circumstances.
"We want to make sure it is as confidential as possible," DeFazio said. "The problem with doing this is that you always have rumors, so we want to always protect our students."
Drug testing in athletics has always been associated with marijuana use or the abuse of certain pain medications, but the testing done by Cabell County will include alcohol and steroid traces as well.
"If we have students that are using and the parents aren't aware of it, we want to make them aware of it," Alexander said.
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