BURLEY - Cassia County will become a test bed for measuring tobacco abuse among school athletes, possibly becoming Idaho's first school district to implement nicotine testing on athletes as policy.

The Cassia County School Board decided Tuesday that it will incorporate non-punitive nicotine screening of half of the athletes undergoing district-mandated random alcohol and drug testing.

The effort will gather data the board will use to decide whether to implement nicotine screening among student athletes, including cheer and dance team members.

Cassia County School District Attorney Doug Whipple said if the school board implements a nicotine testing policy, it will be the first school district in the state to employ such a policy.

"We are on the cutting edge of this," Whipple said.

Whipple said in order to justify the policy the board needs to determine whether tobacco use among student athletes is a significant local problem and whether testing is an appropriate way to address it.

Cassia County School District Superintendent Gaylen Smyer said Wednesday that prior to the beginning of the winter sports season all student athletes will undergo drug and alcohol testing as part of the district's policy.

"Once the athletes make the team they will be randomly tested throughout the season," Smyer said. "When the athletes are randomly tested 50 percent of the tests will check for the presence of nicotine."

Jody Prewitt, co-owner of Mobile Drug Screen, which currently performs drug and alcohol tests on district athletes, said during Tuesday's board meeting that some random sampling of school athletes has already been conducted.

Prewitt said two random samplings were performed during routine drug and alcohol tests. In one group of four students, all four tested positive for nicotine, she said. In the other group of four, two tested positive.

The board agreed the small sample group does not supply enough data for the board to make a policy decision and requested that Mobile Drug Screen begin screening half of the tested student athletes for tobacco abuse.

Laurie Welch may be reached at lwelch@magicvalley.com or 208-677-8767.