SandyMiller's Blog

The Francis Howell School District will begin random drug testing this week for all students involved in sports and extracurricular activities. Later this week, Barry Bonds and the Giants visit Busch stadium. The timing may be coincidental, but the connection is not.
Many professional athletes say they are NOT role models. In some cases I wish that were true. It may not say so in the fine print of their multi-million dollar contracts, but they ARE the people our children emulate. It would be better if our kids looked up to doctors, teachers, policemen and scientists, but they're not the ones we see on TV, selling us shoes and driving Hummers.
Kids try to be like their heroes. Unfortunately, some of their heroes take drugs.
It doesn't matter if we're talking about performance enhancing drugs or recreational drugs. (And while we're at it, I don't like the adjective "recreational". I think it gives the whole idea of recreation a bad name.) Civil libertarians will say that drug testing in schools is an invasion of privacy. But, who plays football in private? I don't think cheerleading, speech and debate, student government or any other extracurricular activity is done in private. I think it happens on school property with other students. I don't want my kids to take drugs, and I don't want their teammates to either.
Some say you can't legislate morality. It's a civics debate that's been going on since before we were here, and will probably still be going on long after we're gone. All I know is that illegal drugs hurt people. I'm a mom, and kids are some of my favorite people. If it takes random testing to deter kids from taking drugs, or if it identifies and helps the ones who are, I'm all for it! And if Barry Bonds goes out for the Francis Howell baseball team... I think he's out of luck.