Pubdate: Sat, 18 Aug 2007
Source: Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
Copyright: 2007 The Commercial Appeal
Contact:  http://www.commercialappeal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/95
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)

DRUG TESTS HIT A ROADBLOCK

Their hearts were in the right place when three Shelby  County high 
school principals tried to continue random  drug testing of students 
engaged in extracurricular  activities this week.

"To heck with what the attorney general's office says,"  however, 
might not be the right lesson for young people  to take from their 
high school experience going  forward.

Shelby County Schools officials were correct to halt  the testing at 
Germantown, Houston and Millington High  Schools, pending a review of 
an opinion authored by  deputy Atty. Gen. Kate Eyler.

According to Eyler, random testing is a violation of a  state law 
that "allows drug testing of a student only  when there are 
reasonable indications to the principal  that the student may have 
used or may be under the  influence of drugs."

The opinion seems to reflect the will of the General  Assembly on the 
issue. Whether the law should be  changed or not is a question for 
another day, but in  the present situation, caution is the proper course.

It's hard to fault school principals for trying to  discourage 
illegal drug use among students,  particularly since random drug 
testing for students  engaged in extracurricular activities has been 
ruled in conformance with the U.S. Constitution.

The focus on students who want to play football, do  some 
cheerleading and the like seems appropriate, too.  While school 
attendance is mandatory, team sports, the  marching band and the 
debate squad are not. They're  voluntary acts, much like workers 
answering a help-wanted ad at a company that drug tests job  applicants.

Germantown High School principal Lonnie Harris, who has  been using 
random drug testing for more than a decade,  reasonably argues that 
it gives students a relatively  easy, non-confrontational way to 
resist peer pressure  on the illegal drug issue.

But the state prohibition seems fairly straightforward,  and most 
schools across the state that have been  testing students have 
decided to comply, or at least  take a wait-and-see attitude, since 
the opinion was  issued in July.

Whether testing eventually resumes or not, the  controversy should 
provide a valuable teaching  opportunity for students on a variety of 
issues, from  the civil liberties granted by the Constitution to the 
practical realities of the workplaces that are  awaiting.

Smart teachers will take advantage of it, and students,  like those 
in the generations that preceded them,  should have plenty to say.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom