They’re peppy, they’re pretty and high school sports won’t be the same without them. They are the cheerleaders who are known for their complex moves and high energy. Visalia, California raises their cheerleaders to a new high by also subjecting them to drug tests. They are athletes too, after all. The same tests used to determine illegal drug use in athletes will be given to high school student cheerleaders and this school policy has been approved last January. Ten students would be randomly tested each week at each high school.
From The Fresno Bee:
In Visalia, cheerleaders were added to the eight-year-old drug-test program because of their role as high-profile students, said Lucinda Awbrey, director of student services.
“Cheerleaders are part of the athletic program. They are role models, just as athletes are,” Awbrey said.
Plus, she added, “it’s a safety issue.” No incident involving cheerleaders and drugs occurred to prompt the change.
School districts may say safety is the goal, but drug testing of high schoolers presents “a privacy problem,” said Michael Risher, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney in San Francisco.
“As the price of being a cheerleader, you have to agree to being summoned down the hall to pee in a cup,” Risher said.
But privacy rights don’t apply to high school athletes engaged in interscholastic sports, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1995. Students are minors and competitive athletics can be dangerous, so safety concerns outweigh any minimal loss of privacy, the court ruled.
A 2002 Supreme Court decision extended that to extracurricular activities of all kinds.
While other high schools still struggle with their steroid policies and their privacy issues, Visalia announces that only the school principal will known which students have positive tests. The principal will have the power to inform that student’s parents and can put him or her under probation with the substance abuse guidance counselor. It would be the guidance counselor who would determine if the student needs further treatment. Fortunately for the cheerleaders who test positive, they can still stay on the team. Visalia, however, won’t be testing for steroids yet since steroid tests are more expensive. Due to budget cuts, several schools have to stop the drug testing program. There are some areas in California, such as Clovis, that have different drug testing policies. Clovis high schools test for anabolic steroid use and other addictive drugs in their students. The results get sent to the parents right away and parents are the one responsible for reprimanding their children. The schools, however, will get a summary of the reports.
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