Pubdate: Wed, 12 May 2004
Source: Asheville Citizen-Times (NC)
Copyright: 2004 Asheville Citizen-Times
Contact:  http://www.citizen-times.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/863
Author: Clarke Morrison
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)

SCHOOLS' RIGHT TO RANDOMLY DRUG-TEST STUDENTS BACKED BY SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

ASHEVILLE - The U.S. Supreme Court twice in recent years has supported the 
right of public schools to randomly test some students for drug use.

The court in 2002 approved random drug testing for students involved in 
extracurricular activities, a ruling that increased the tools available to 
some 14,700 school systems to fight illegal drug use.

By a 5-4 vote, the court ruled in a case from Oklahoma that local school 
officials' responsibility for the health and safety of their students can 
outweigh privacy concerns.

"That made it clear for the first time that schools could do random drug 
testing of students without suspicion," Buncombe County School Board 
attorney Chris Campbell said.

The court already had authorized mandatory random drug testing for 
student-athletes in a 1995 case that noted the special safety risks and 
lower expectation of privacy inherent in sports, as well as the fact that 
athletes are role models for other students.

"A student's privacy interest is limited in a public school environment 
where the state is responsible for maintaining discipline, health and 
safety," Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the majority in the more recent 
case. "Securing order in the school environment sometimes requires that 
students be subjected to greater controls than those appropriate for adults."

In dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote that "the particular testing 
program upheld today is not reasonable, it is capricious, even perverse: 
(It) targets for testing a student population least likely to be at risk 
for illicit drugs and their damaging effects."

Wholesome extracurricular activities help keep students off drugs, Ginsburg 
said, yet the testing policy could deter students from participating in 
them. The same observation was made in a friend-of-the court brief filed by 
the American Association of Pediatrics.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom