SCHOOLS' RIGHT TO RANDOMLY DRUG-TEST STUDENTS BACKED BY SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

ASHEVILLE - The U.S. Supreme Court twice in recent years has supported the
right of public schools to randomly test some students for drug use.

The court in 2002 approved random drug testing for students involved in
extracurricular activities, a ruling that increased the tools available to
some 14,700 school systems to fight illegal drug use.

By a 5-4 vote, the court ruled in a case from Oklahoma that local school
officials' responsibility for the health and safety of their students can
outweigh privacy concerns.

"That made it clear for the first time that schools could do random drug
testing of students without suspicion," Buncombe County School Board
attorney Chris Campbell said.

The court already had authorized mandatory random drug testing for
student-athletes in a 1995 case that noted the special safety risks and
lower expectation of privacy inherent in sports, as well as the fact that
athletes are role models for other students.

"A student's privacy interest is limited in a public school environment
where the state is responsible for maintaining discipline, health and
safety," Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the majority in the more recent
case. "Securing order in the school environment sometimes requires that
students be subjected to greater controls than those appropriate for adults."

In dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote that "the particular testing
program upheld today is not reasonable, it is capricious, even perverse:
(It) targets for testing a student population least likely to be at risk
for illicit drugs and their damaging effects."

Wholesome extracurricular activities help keep students off drugs, Ginsburg
said, yet the testing policy could deter students from participating in
them. The same observation was made in a friend-of-the court brief filed by
the American Association of Pediatrics.