Four students at McKee Middle School in Jeannette sat at an art table displaying entries for a T-shirt contest with slogans pledging to be drug-free.
While talking about the effects of drugs, seventh-grader Becca Tyger, 13, asks if anyone in the group has lost a family member to drugs. The table falls silent.
She mentions her mother's cousin who “wasn't allowed to be around” before he overdosed on drugs.
The participants at the table, including Tyger, are among students at three Westmoreland County school districts that have joined a voluntary drug-screening program meant to discourage that same fate by encouraging and rewarding good choices.
The program, Remembering Adam, was established in 1998 by Debbie Fowler after her 18-year-old son Adam died of a heroin overdose in Carrolltown, Cambria County, that year.
“Our program is positive,” Fowler said. “We're there to encourage and support the healthy decisions students are already making.”
After discussing the programs with parents and returning a signed permission form, students receive a membership card and T-shirt with the understanding that they are agreeing to random drug tests.
Districts can choose to test as many students as often as they like and can select tests that screen for only one drug, such as cocaine or marijuana, or for five drugs at once.
The Westmoreland County Drug and Alcohol Commission introduced the program to school districts in August after garnering more than 7,500 participants in Cambria, Clearfield, Indiana and Somerset counties over the years, said prevention coordinator Janet Hoffer.
“The commission recognized the need for prevention services in the county,” she said. “It gives the students out there who are not using drugs the opportunity to say they're not using drugs.”
Of the 17 districts in the county that were invited, eight attended the seminar, and three — Jeannette, Greater Latrobe and Yough — adopted the initiative.
“This is one of the proactive steps we're taking in changing the culture,” Yough Superintendent Janet Sardon said. The district, which started the program in January, has about 80 students signed up.
At each school district, the program is funded by Remembering Adam for the first year, while the Westmoreland Drug and Alcohol Commission has committed to five years of financial backing. Fowler said the program is fully funded by donations.
Yough is working with local businesses and community members to offer incentives for students, Sardon said.
For the 65 middle school students participating at Jeannette, the district is offering “dress-down” days from the dress code and extra credit points with a membership card, and a year-end picnic is planned.
At Greater Latrobe, about 70 students have signed up since the program began in the fall, said Matthew Shivetts, senior high school assistant principal.
Shivetts said the district plans to test about 30 percent to 40 percent of the participants randomly throughout the semester. He said the district plans to use it as a way to combat negative peer pressure.
“We're not necessarily thinking we're going to catch them with anything,” Shivetts said, although proper measures would be taken if a student tests positive.
While the program could have a positive impact, officials prefer to emphasize parental involvement rather than something more focused on the schools, said Randy Stoner, a Hempfield Area School Board member.
“I sincerely think that anything that recognizes the problems and horrible faults of trying anything like that one time, I think it's worth it,” Stoner said. “What Hempfield offers is home drug tests, emphasis on the home.”
Although there are no tangible data to point to, he touts the positive influence on students from programs like the take-home drug tests available to parents at the district and the Reality Tour, a dramatic recounting of a student who gets addicted to drugs and overdoses.
“I use the (drug test) as a deterrent,” Stoner said. “It's in the cupboard, and you never know when it's coming out.”
Carey Mortimer, whose sixth-grade daughter Abby is participating in Remembering Adam at Jeannette, said she applauds the program since it can carry more weight than parents alone when a student faces pressure to say no.
“It kind of takes it off of her and gives her a way out,” Mortimer said, adding that she was proud that her daughter wanted to join the program.
Yough senior Megan Cox, 18, of Yukon said she is participating as the vice president of the Community Action Program/Students Against Destructive Decisions.
“You hear about it in the hallway. ... It seems like the popular belief is that marijuana, alcohol and some drugs are OK when really they're not,” she said. “You have to have the will to say no, and you have to know right from wrong.”
Stacey Federoff is a staff writerfor Trib Total Media.
