JUDGE HEARS DRUG TEST CASE

RALEIGH -- Arguments made Tuesday will help a judge decide if Graham
County Schools may confront teachers and other employees with random
drug tests. The N.C. Association of Educators sued the school
district on behalf of a teacher, saying a policy that took effect
last month violates state constitutional principles against
discrimination and searches without evidence. The school district
says the random drug testing policy, believed to be the state's
first, is meant to keep students safe and promote an anti-drug
message. "It's really a case without a whole lot of precedents in
North Carolina," said Dean Shatley, the school system's attorney.

Superior Court Judge James Downs heard arguments in Asheville but did
not rule. No testing will be done until the court makes a decision,
Superintendent Rick Davis said.

In a legal brief presented Tuesday, attorneys suing the district
wrote that random drug testing is unnecessary. It has been 17 years,
they said, since officials have discovered a teacher using drugs
under the old policy that allowed tests only upon suspicion.

Depositions of school officials revealed no evidence of drug use, the
lawyers said in the brief, only unsupported rumors about three
people: a high school teacher accused of smoking marijuana, an
elementary school teacher rumored to have been drunk at a basketball
game and a coach accused of using drugs and helping students pass
drug tests. Unlike private employers who can test workers at any
time, North Carolina allows random testing only for
"safety-sensitive" jobs. "Because of the very nature of their jobs,"
school attorneys said in a brief, "school employees serve in a
capacity in which safety must be an overruling concern." But their
opponents said the district has gone too far in trying to rein in
drug and alcohol use.

"The policy defines 'under the influence' in a manner that would
subject an employee to mandatory rehabilitation, 24 months of
unannounced testing, and even termination, for having even a trace
amount of alcohol in their system," they said.