WELL-BEING OF MINORS OUTWEIGHS PRIVACY

WASHINGTON -- School districts can make the nation's 23 million middle and
high school students take drug tests before they join the band, choir,
chess club or any other extracurricular activities where they compete with
other schools, the Supreme Court said Thursday.

By a 5-to-4 vote, the court upheld an Oklahoma school district's efforts to
keep students from using illegal drugs by emphasizing the "custodial"
duties that schools have in lieu of parents to protect "the safety and
health" of students.

The ruling reflects concern about the nation's public schools. In a recent
USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll, 70% of adults said schools should be allowed to
conduct drug tests on students who participate in non-athletic activities.

The court's decision broadens a 1995 ruling that allowed urinalysis of
student athletes by expanding testing for activities that can be key to
students' high school years. After the 1995 ruling, only about 5% of the
nation's schools began drug-testing programs for athletes, mainly because
of the cost of such programs.

Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the majority, said students who join
the band or chess club have limited expectations of privacy. The intrusive
nature of the tests is "not significant," he wrote. Thomas also said
schools do not need proof of a serious drug problem before starting to test.

"This gives kids a reason to say 'no' to drugs," says David Evans, of the
Drug-Free Schools Coalition, a group of educators and parents.

In her dissent Thursday, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the ruling is
"capricious, even perverse" because the policy targets students who are the
least likely to use drugs.

Graham Boyd, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who argued the case
for the policy's opponents, called the ruling "an unprecedented attack on
students' privacy."

Boyd does not expect many schools to start testing. "There will be some
schools that will do it, but I think most will not because they will
realize that it's a waste of money," he says.

The key issues in the case revolved around the Fourth Amendment's guarantee
of a right "against unreasonable searches and seizures." In prior cases,
the court has said drug testing is a type of search that requires a warrant
or evidence of wrongdoing. But the court has ruled that schools are
different because educators need to maintain order.

In 1998, the Pottawatomie County School District required students who
wanted to participate in competitive extracurricular activities to take
drug tests before they joined, and later at random. Students who fail are
not reported to police but referred to counseling. They also are not banned
from the activities for the school year until they fail three times.

The policy affected the band, choir, academic team, Future Farmers of
America and other groups engaged in competitive activities after school.