AREA EDUCATORS PRAISE RANDOM DRUG TEST RULING

Birmingham area school systems welcomed Thursday's U.S. Supreme Court
ruling allowing random drug testing of students involved in extracurricular
activities other than sports.

Hoover, Mountain Brook, Vestavia Hills and Jefferson and Shelby counties
already have drug-testing policies for athletes. Some officials said
Thursday's ruling opens the door for them to expand their policies to other
groups, such as bands.

"I've always felt random drug testing ought to be expanded to include
extracurricular activities, but not the whole student population," said
Vestavia Hills school board President George Elliott.

Elliott said the Vestavia Hills board, which approved drug testing for
athletes a year ago, will look at the issue July 31 to see if it should
adjust its policy for the coming school year.

Hoover considered testing students in marching bands, dance teams and
technical theater classes when it adopted a drug-testing policy two years ago.

Superintendent Jack Farr said school officials started first with athletes
until the courts decided the issue of drug-testing other groups. He wants
to take a close look at the Supreme Court decision before recommending any
changes.

The Jefferson County Board of Education, which allows individual schools to
test athletes for drugs, may expand it to other areas after Thursday's
ruling, Superintendent Bob Neighbors said. He said he wasn't aware if any
Jefferson County schools drug-test their athletes, but he approves of
random testing because it's a good preventive measure.

Students are less likely to use illegal drugs if they know they might be
tested, he said.

Plus, the consequences for failing a drug test give students a socially
acceptable reason to say no to drugs, he said.

Shelby County Superintendent Evan Major said he was pondering whether
groups such as Future Farmers of America crop-judging teams, marching bands
and Scholars Bowl teams would be considered competitive extracurricular
activities.

One factor that will influence whether school systems expand drug testing
is cost, Major said. Shelby County pays about $35,000 a year to drug-test
athletes, he said.

There are 21,000 students in the system.