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Berry Middle School athletes got a clean report on drug tests administered recently by Hoover school officials.

Of 73 Berry athletes tested, not one had results showing evidence of illegal drug use, said Hoover High athletic director Ron Swann.

"That tells me one of two things," Swann said. "Either we got the fear in them or we didn't test the right ones."

The Berry Middle school testing follows drug tests at Hoover High School earlier this year. At the high school, less than 5 percent of athletes in fall sports who were tested failed, Swann said.

The company that gave the tests had said to expect an 8 to 10 percent failure rate, Swann said.

The drug test Hoover uses screens for 10 different drugs, and about half of those who failed it tested positive for tobacco use, Swann said. "We've had more nicotine than we have anything else."

Coaches have said this is the best thing the school system has ever done to deter students from using drugs, Swann said. "Every kid that has tested positive, when we retested them two weeks later, they tested negative," he said.

Tom Boone is a member of the Hoover Safe and Drug-free Schools Advisory Team and also sits on the Hoover Parks and Recreation Board and has a son who plays football at Hoover High. Boone agreed the drug tests have been effective.

"I know there have been some changes of habits among the football players," Boone said.

Parents support the testing, too - even those whose children tested positive, he said. "They realize what this may prevent down the road. If this behavior had been allowed to continue, who knows what would have happened," he said.

Carol Barber, principal at Simmons Middle School, said she's seeing an impact at her school, even though the tests haven't started there yet. At the end of the school year, she usually has a drawer full of cigarette lighters that she has collected from students.

This year, "I haven't had one cigarette lighter at school that we've found."

She's not saying that no kids at her school are smoking, but "I think they're getting the message that we're serious about it at school," she said.

Drug tests were scheduled at Simmons two weeks ago, but the testing company failed to show up, said Anne Hartline, the safe and drug-free schools coordinator for Hoover public schools. Tests for middle school athletes and winter sport athletes at Hoover High will resume after school starts back in January, she said.

Christina Cooley, a junior at Hoover High who is on the varsity cheerleading squad, said she's glad to know that athletes in fall sports will be kept in the testing pool.

"I've heard football players say, 'We can get our championship ring, and I can do whatever I want,'" she said.

Ms. Hartline said the school won't be able to punish senior athletes that test positive for drugs by taking away playing privileges if their high school athletic careers have ended, but the school can help them with any drug problem they have. Their parents also would be notified if they test positive.

Swann said he's talked with other school systems that do drug testing, and he expects the number of students testing positive will rise as the newness of testing wears off and students become complacent.

Miss Cooley said even though the number of positive tests is low, the tests should continue because there are still a lot of people doing drugs.

Hoover Councilwoman Donna Mazur said schools should expand their testing to include more than athletes.

"We are missing the kids, the teenagers who are really doing this," said Mrs. Mazur. She saw three friends die of heroin overdoses when she was growing up in New York and heroin was a big problem, she said. "We're missing a whole group of teenagers who need our help and aren't getting it because they know they're not going to be tested."

Mayor Barbara McCollum said someone with the state Department of Public Health told her Hoover might be able to get money to help pay for drug testing if schools expanded it to include students whose parents volunteer them to be tested.

Swann said there's a desire to expand the testing, but school officials must discuss the matter further with their attorney.

Meanwhile, the decision by the Hoover Board of Education to include tobacco in its drug testing program is drawing attention nationwide, Swann said. There's not a day that goes by that he doesn't get a phone call from somebody wanting a copy of Hoover's drug-testing policy, he said. Many are from outside Alabama, he said.

"Everybody is interested in what we're doing, especially with tobacco - because they know that tobacco is the problem as a gateway drug."

He tells them Hoover's policy may not work in other systems unless they have other drug prevention and intervention programs, as Hoover does. "This is only a small piece of the puzzle," he said.

By Passing A Drug Test