Pubdate: Fri, 9 Nov 2001 Source: Detroit Free Press (MI) Copyright: 2001 Detroit Free Press Contact: http://www.mapinc.org/media/125 Website: http://www.freep.com/ Author: Gina Holland, Associated Press Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing) HIGH COURT TO MULL DRUG TESTS Case Pits Safety Issue Vs. Students' Rights WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court agreed Thursday to decide whether school administrators must demonstrate that schools have a serious drug problem before randomly testing some students. Justices are following up on their 1995 ruling that upheld testing of athletes in an Oregon school district, where drug-using sports team members were blamed for discipline problems. That ruling stopped short of endorsing blanket drug testing. In the case accepted Thursday for review by the Supreme Court, an appeals court said a rural Oklahoma district violated the Constitution's ban on unreasonable searches by requiring random tests of students involved in extracurricular activities. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the district had no justification for drug testing because the district had few problems. Among the more serious incidents was a choir member caught with alcohol in a cough syrup bottle during a trip. The court struck down the district's policy, and school officials appealed to the Supreme Court. "The issue presented is of major importance . . . to all public schools in the nation which are responsible for the safety of the students under their supervision on a daily basis and must address drug use which threatens their safety," the Tecumseh school district told the court in urging it to accept the appeal. Lawyers for the district said the Supreme Court determined in the 1995 case that public schools are a special environment and students have a lower expectation of privacy. American Civil Liberties Union attorneys, representing three Tecumseh students, countered, telling the court, "The mere entrance through the schoolhouse gates does not include the blanket invitation to subject students in America's public schools to drug tests." The Fourth Amendment case turns on whether schools have to prove narcotics problems before testing children and if testing is appropriate only for students who are involved in potentially dangerous activities, such as sports. In the case, the appeals court said there was no evidence of drug use among the Oklahoma students who were required to take tests. - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk