Instructions: From the material provided below, write a single news story that fully covers the topic. Be sure you use proper grammar, spelling and punctuation as well as proper Associated Press style. You should also be as complete as possible and cover all sides of this issue.
There seems to be a controversy brewing with the Escambia County School District. The district’s board wants to implement random drug testing of all student athletes at the high school. They made this decision during the last board meeting and told the board lawyer to draft a proposal for consideration at their next meeting. Students and parents are outraged and divided. The next board meeting is tomorrow night and those against and in favor of the board’s proposed on drug testing student athletes plan to be present for that meeting, which has been moved to the auditorium at Pensacola High School to accommodate what is expected to be a large audience.
Superintendent Gary Hubbard urged the board to pass the measure at the end of the school year last year. “I believed then and I still believe there are members of the football team and the boys’ basketball team at the high school who are using steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs,” Hubbard said today. He said the issue started with complaints began coming in from teams played by Pensacola High’s football and boys’ basketball teams during the prior
academic year.
“But we can’t just test those teams; we need to test all our studentathletes in all sports,” Hubbard said. Karen Bunilla, the board’s attorney, said she drafted a policy based on the board’s request and plans to submit it for consideration during tomorrow’s meeting. She would not release a copy of the draft prior to that meeting when asked. “Such a policy is legal, based on past United States Supreme Court decisions,” Bunilla said.
Other board members declined to comment prior to tomorrow’s meeting. But parents and students are talking about the policy. Roger Beaumont, a 10th grade student who plays on the HHS soccer team, considers such a policy a “violation of my privacy.” However, Beaumont said if forced to choose between playing soccer and taking a drug test “I’d probably go ahead and take the drug test. I don’t have anything to be afraid of and I want to play. I need a soccer scholarship to go to college. My grades won’t do it if you know what I mean.”
Anna Cagill, a senior who plays basketball on the HHS girls team, said she has heard there are football players at HHS who take steroids, but she had never asked any of the players if they did so. Cagill said, “I would take a drug test because I don’t have anything to hide. But from what I’ve heard, there are probably some student athletes who do.” Jimbo Lake is a senior who plays basketball. He opposes any policy that requires any student athlete to take a drug test for any reason. “I will be at that meeting tomorrow and they will hear what I have to say,” Lake said. “I’m not a druggie and I don’t like even the implication that I’m a druggie.”
Tomorrow’s meeting begins at 7 p.m.
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