Athletes of at least one Osceola County high school will have to pass a drug test if they want to play on their school's sports teams, after the district school board acted last week to adopt a proposal that strives to hold athletes up as model citizens [High spirits?, March 2]. Board members, who voted 4-1, said the program should deter jocks from being pressured into drug use.
Osceola High School administrators, who asked the board to consider drug tests, are expected to put the program in place this fall. Poinciana and Gateway high schools, however, plan to opt out of the voluntary effort; Gateway hosted a pilot drug-testing program in the early 1990s, but administrators dropped it after 2,000 tests yielded just three positive responses.