PRIVACY ABUSE

Drug Testing Of Students Should Face Uphill Battle

Biddeford school board members voted unanimously this week to look into the
idea of random drug tests for middle school and high school students,
something only one other school district in Maine currently attempts.

This is the most preliminary of explorations and it could go nowhere. But
board members, concerned about the number of youngsters using drugs and
alcohol, believe there's reason to consider the idea.

There's reason to be suspicious of it, too. Drug testing on its face would
be intrusive and insulting to students - especially to the sane and sober
majority who resent unnecessary adult meddling in their lives.

More to the point, while the prospect of an unannounced drug test might
scare some kids into staying clean it also might persuade others - those
whose habits are affecting their good sense and their academic life - to
drop out.

Courts have been wary of drug testing of students, chiefly because of the
question of privacy. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld random testing of high
school athletes in an Oregon case in 1995 but subsequent rulings by lower
courts have struck down policies that either weren't random or weren't
justified. The American Civil Liberties Union has argued that urine testing
of students not suspected of drug or alcohol use amounts to an unreasonable
search.

It's possible that Biddeford, like some other districts around the country
(including Calais) could craft a policy that could withstand a court
challenge. It would need extensive groundwork and, as Superintendent Kent
Webster said this week, a community-wide discussion. Webster noted
correctly that substance abuse by kids "is a community problem, not just a
school problem."

The framers of such a policy would have to show that the drug problem is so
severe that it justifies the insult and the intrusion. They would have to
explain how students with substance abuse problems will be helped once
they're identified. Merely pointing a finger at them and kicking them off
the football team wouldn't be enough.

School board members shouldn't be judged too harshly for considering this
idea. Part of their job is helping young people succeed and success - as
we've seen graphically with accidents, teen pregnancies and teen dropouts -
can be impossible for kids who abuse alcohol and drugs.

Regardless of the outcome of the debate, it will be a good thing for
Biddeford if it wakes up even a few parents who are blissfully unaware that
some very nice kids are messing up their lives with alcohol and drugs. The
burden will be on proponents to show that this questionable method is the
right way to address the problem.