A growing list of Northern Kentucky schools is advocating voluntary drug testing clubs that ask students to go beyond pledging to be drug-free.

Schools want students to prove they are drug-free by taking drug tests.

Boone County Schools announced Aug. 28 the district has started Drug Free Clubs of America chapters in all district high schools.

Joining the club requires submitting to an initial drug test. Random drug tests follow.

The move comes as problems outnumber solutions in the unrelenting drug epidemic in Northern Kentucky.

Heroin and opioid overdoses are deluging emergency rooms at St. Elizabeth Healthcare's six hospitals this year. St. Elizabeth announced in a July 20 Enquirer story that emergency staff turned around 1,238 overdoses so far this year. During the first half of 2016, the total was 554.

“Boone County Schools is proud to provide students and their parents with a strategy of true prevention to avoid the drug epidemic that is looking for new victims every day in our community,” said Kathy Reutman, Boone County's executive director of student services.

Just saying no isn't enough, Reutman said.

So far, 12 public and private high schools in Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties have volunteer drug testing clubs. Turkey Foot Middle School in Kenton County Schools is the lone area middle school with a club so far.

Covington Catholic High School remains the only school in Northern Kentucky to require mandatory drug testing of all students. CovCath made testing mandatory in 2016.

Dayton, Kentucky resident Rebecca Holaday said her two teen daughters' drug club membership at school brings her some relief.

"Drugs are so rampant in our area right now that for me it was awesome to have my daughters say, 'Hey, I want to stay drug-free,'" Holaday said.

Extended family members have been addicted to heroin, she said.

"My girls have seen what drugs can do to you," Holaday said. "They don't want that to be their life."

Colleges and employers will one day ask students if they were a member of their drug testing club, Dayton Independent School Superintendent Jay Brewer said.

"It's not just something school is asking for, it's something life is asking for," Brewer said.

Pushing increased participation in existing clubs and starting new clubs was Brewer's idea, said Polly Page, Northern Kentucky Education Council executive director.

"We’re working on his vision," Page said. "He was the one who was the genius behind this."

The council has engaged with schools to start clubs and with community and business leaders to support the concept.

In spring 2018 there will be a rally for all student club members in Northern Kentucky.

"We're calling it Northern Kentucky Drug Free Clubs of America," she said.

The council started a project steering committee this summer to emphasize and spread the clubs, she said. Committee members include Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties' elected judges-executive, corporate representatives, and St. Elizabeth Healthcare.

Corporate sponsors have been asked to sponsor student memberships. It costs about $65 for students to join the club for a year and pay for drug tests. Corporate sponsorships often bring the costs for students down to $35 annually. At Dayton High School, sponsorships have driven the cost per student down to $10.

By the 2018 school year the hope is to have a club at every public and private high school, Page said.

Dayton High School has had a drug testing club for more than five years. Annual student participation rates in the club have been as low as 10 percent of enrollment, Brewer said.

Dayton wants to be more like Notre Dame Academy in Park Hills where the participation rate is annually around 70 percent, Brewer said.

Parents are notified by St. Elizabeth Healthcare and Drug Free Clubs of America when student drug test results come back positive. The school doesn't call.

"When they fail a test the schools don't find out and try to kick them out," Brewer said.

"We want to get them help," he said.

Schools with Drug Free Clubs

• Beechwood High School in Fort Mitchell
• Bishop Brossart High School in Alexandria
• Boone County High School in Florence
• Campbell County High School in Alexandria
• Conner High School in Hebron
• Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills
• Dayton High School
• Dixie Heights High School in Edgewood
• Holy Cross High School in Covington
• Notre Dame Academy in Park Hills
• Randall K. Cooper High School in Union
• Turkey Foot Middle School in Edgewood