RULING MAY PROMPT DRUG-TESTING

Many school districts may consider adding a student drug-testing policy in
light of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that allows testing of students in
extracurricular activities, but they will have to tread carefully, a local
lawyer said Friday.

"The court has given the school districts a lot more flexibility," said Bob
Ramirez, a lawyer with Escamilla & Poneck, which represents several area
school districts.

The court ruled Thursday in favor of an Oklahoma school district policy
that allows the testing of every student in a competitive extracurricular
activity.

Bexar County's three largest districts " Northside, San Antonio and North
East" do not have random drug-testing policies.

The court's decision broadens a previous ruling on the issue in two main
ways, Ramirez said.

The earlier ruling limited the testing to athletes, saying they gave up a
lot of privacy by just being in locker rooms or taking communal showers.
This one broadens it to all students in extracurricular activities.

And school districts no longer have to show there is already a drug
problem. They can use testing as a preventive measure, not just a response.

But it's a contentious issue, and districts still have to be prepared to go
to court, he said.

"What a school district will inevitably try to do is expand it," he said.
"Not too far removed is applying (the decision) to all students."

That's the fear of Edward Pi, South Texas president of the American Civil
Liberties Union.

"It's been my experience that it has been a slippery slope," Pi said.

He cited a 1995 Supreme Court decision in a case from Vernonia, Ore., in
which a student lost in his effort to prevent drug testing of athletes.

"The school showed a lot of evidence that they had a hell of a (drug)
problem," Pi said. "Now (districts) can target everybody in extracurricular
activities."

St. Mary's law professor John Schmolesky said the 5-4 decision coupled with
a concurring opinion from Justice Stephen Breyer is a warning to school
districts not to take drug testing too far.

While the majority opinion offered few limits on school districts' ability
to test students, Breyer's statement pointed out that it was important to
him that the policy was limited to students in extracurricular activities.

That's an indication that he might change sides if a broader policy were to
come before the court, Schmolesky said.

In Texas, at least 169 school districts have some form of a drug-testing
policy, according to one study.

Fifty-three tested only athletes, 76 tested students in all extracurricular
activities, 28 tested all students and nine performed voluntary testing,
according to the research by David Thompson at the University of Texas at
San Antonio and Stacey Edmonson at Sam Houston State University in
Huntsville. Three schools had other testing policies.

Among those who could be most affected by such policies in San Antonio-area
school districts, there were mixed reactions.

"I wouldn't have anything to be afraid of," said Carol Sanchez, 16, a
junior at Clark High School. "It might bother some kids and they might say,
'You're interfering with my rights,' but why are they doing (drugs) anyway?
It's against the law."

Flora Perez, 16, a junior at Boerne High School, said schools were reaching
into students' personal lives.

"The school is just about education," she said. "And what you do outside
school is none of their business."

The court's ruling, however, points out that schools have a parent-like
responsibility to protect student safety.

Margaret Brown, whose fifth and youngest child just graduated from
Brackenridge High School, said rising drug use among teen-agers makes the
testing necessary.

"Unfortunately the laws have to change in accordance with statistics," she
said. "I don't know how (else) the public school system is going to deal
with it."