TULIA ISD ATTORNEYS FILE APPEAL TO COURT

TULIA - Attorneys for the Tulia Independent School District on Tuesday
mailed an appeal of recent court decisions against the district's
drug-testing policy.

Attorney Jeff Rogers said Thursday that he mailed the appeal to the
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

The appeal is being made following two rulings by U.S. District Judge
Mary Lou Robinson. On Nov. 30, Robinson ruled in favor of Hollister
Gardner and his cousins, Molly and Colby, who filed lawsuits in
January 1997 to protest the school district's "mandatory,
suspicionless" drug-testing policy. Hollister Gardner has since
graduated from Tulia High School and is a college student.

Rogers said Robinson didn't properly interpret a ruling in an earlier
student drug-testing case involving the Vernonia School District.

"Specifically the judge found the absence of a drug epidemic among
extracurricular students meant the school district could not justify
the policy," Rogers said. "Due to the underground nature of drug use,
it is difficult if not impossible to determine how many students are
using drugs."

On Dec. 8, Robinson ordered that the school district not test Molly
Gardner, a senior, and Colby Gardner, a sophomore.

Superintendent Mike Vinyard said the drug testing was halted since
Robinson's Dec. 8 ruling.

"I guess it's on hold," Superintendent Mike Vinyard said Tuesday. "We
will discuss this at our board meeting on Thursday (today)."

Under the program, anyone in junior high school or high school
desiring to participate in extracurricular activities must submit to
random drug testing.

On Monday, attorney Jim Harrington with the Texas Civil Rights Project
said if the school district continues drug testing after the Dec. 8
ruling, the district could be ordered to pay damages at the end of the
case. The Texas Civil Rights Project has assisted with Molly and Colby
Gardner's case.

"They can't enforce it against anybody," Harrington said of the
drug-testing policy.