PRIVACY SUIT OVER STUDENT SURVEY THROWN OUT

RIDGEWOOD, N.J., Feb. 20 — A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit by
three parents in this affluent suburb that accused the local school
district of violating students' privacy rights by administering a survey
that asked about their sexual behavior, drug and alcohol use and family
relationships.

The judge, Nicholas H. Politan of Federal District Court in Newark, ruled
that the 156-question survey — which dealt with a number of other topics as
well — was voluntary and anonymous and that, as such, it was not
unconstitutionally intrusive or a violation of federal education law.

The ruling, issued last Thursday, was a vindication for school officials
and social service agencies here that bought the survey in 1999 in hopes of
assessing students' attitudes and behavior and devising programs to help
students grow, officials said at the time, in a "healthy, caring and
responsible way." The decision was a setback for the parents who sued and a
conservative legal group in Virginia, the Rutherford Institute, which
provided them a lawyer.

In a statement today, Ridgewood's school superintendent, Frederick J.
Stokley, said, "We are grateful that the court understood our arguments and
our desire to address the needs of Ridgewood students."

The survey prompted the New Jersey Legislature to pass a bill last year
requiring written parental consent for any such survey, voluntary or
mandatory. But Gov. Christie Whitman vetoed it, saying the bill would
interfere with state efforts to devise programs to reduce students' drug
and alcohol abuse.

And school officials in New Milford, Conn., apologized to parents last May
after a health survey posed questions about sexual orientation and
behavior, drug and alcohol use and other intimate details.

The lawyer that the Rutherford Institute provided the parents here said
today that he planned to appeal Judge Politan's decision. The lawyer, F.
Michael Daily, said the judge had impeded his efforts to prove the survey
was not voluntary by refusing to allow him to question Ridgewood teachers
who administered it to about 2,100 middle school and high school students
in October 1999. Mr. Daily said students were not told that the survey was
voluntary.

Judge Politan ruled, however, that Dr. Stokley wrote a letter to Ridgewood
parents in September 1999 saying that the survey was voluntary and
anonymous and that the parents could review it in the offices of
Ridgewood's high school and two middle schools. In addition, the judge
said, the survey did not provide any space for a student's name and its
cover sheet said that answers would be kept "strictly confidential."

The judge also dismissed the parents' assertion that the school district
violated a federal education law, the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment.
The law requires school districts to obtain parents' written permission
before requiring students to participate in surveys asking about sexual
behavior and attitudes, illegal, antisocial or demeaning behavior, or
appraisals of family relationships.

Judge Politan said the law did not pertain because student participation
was voluntary. The ruling cleared the way for Ridgewood officials to
publicly distribute the findings from the survey. But the superintendent,
Dr. Stokley, said he had no plans to do so because the federal Education
Department was still investigating complaints by five parents that the
survey was illegal.