SCHOOLS CAN DRUG TEST ACTIVITY STUDENTS

Ruling Not Expected To Change Lee Policy

The Supreme Court decided Thursday to give school administrators the
authority to randomly drug test public school students who participate in
any extracurricular activity.

Lee County school leaders say they don't plan to exercise those powers.

"I don't see a change right now in what we're doing," school board
Chairwoman Jane Kuckel said. "Protecting students' rights is very important."

The ruling would allow students who participate in any school activity,
ranging from the math team to the band, to be tested for drugs.

Kuckel said the only instance in which she might consider drug testing is
for athletes who have the potential to hurt each other during a game.
School districts have had the right to test athletes since 1995.

The Lee County School District currently does not test any of its students
for drugs.

"I don't think there would be any consideration of doing this with all of
our extracurricular activities," Kuckel said.

The 5-4 Supreme Court decision upheld a program at an Oklahoma school that
requires testing seventh-through 12th-grade students even without
reasonable suspicion.

In a dissenting opinion, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg called the policy
"capricious, even perverse." She said it "targets for testing a student
population least likely to be at risk from illicit drugs and their damaging
effects."

Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justices Antonin Scalia, Stephen Breyer
and Anthony M. Kennedy joined the majority. Justices Sandra Day O'Connor,
John Paul Stevens and David Souter also dissented.

Crenda Pickering, whose son is a sophomore at Cape Coral High School, said
she doesn't have a problem with the decision.

"I trust that my child is not using and would like to be informed if he
is," Pickering said. "It's kind of like when you go to the airport and
you're randomly searched."

She said if the testing were truly done randomly and the results were kept
between parents, teachers and the students, it would be fair to all students.

Josh Gravel, 17, who will be a senior at Cape Coral High School next year,
said the testing wouldn't bother him.

"It's fair because kids in high school shouldn't be doing drugs," said
Gravel, who is active in several school clubs.

Donna Sowers, the math team coach at Fort Myers High School, said she hoped
the decision would "discourage kids who want to participate in those
activities from even trying drugs."

Amber Ratz, 18, former president of Students Against Destructive Decisions
at Cape High, disagreed with the ruling.

"Unless there's an actual suspicion, it's not right to disturb students'
rights," Ratz said. "This might discourage kids from joining clubs and
cause more problems."

The American Civil Liberties Union took the same position in arguing the case.

"Experts have filed briefs that the single most important way to prevent
drug use among students is to engage them in extracurricular activities,"
said Graham Boyd, director of drug policy litigation project with the ACLU.

Gwen Wurm, a Miami pediatrician and a board member with the ACLU, said
mandatory drug testing is not something pediatricians support.

She worried that drug testing might give school administrators and teachers
a sense of false security.

"If you have blinders on because students are drug-tested, you could miss
symptoms of depression or suicide. Drugs aren't the only issues kids are
facing," Wurm said.

School principals would be the ones in the trenches dealing with the issue
if the school board decided to use the power the Supreme Court granted.

"That's something better left to parents," said Michael McNerney, principal
at Mariner High School. "If we feel a student might be using drugs or being
influenced by peers to use drugs, our responsibility is to bring that to
the attention of parents."

The ruling drew cheers from the National School Boards Association.

Julie Underwood, the group's general counsel, said testing can reduce drug
use in schools by as much as 70 percent.

"It's a good thing for school districts because they can choose," she said.
"They don't have to drug-test, and there are lots of school districts that
won't" because they don't want to, can't afford it or find it offensive.

- - Bloomberg News Service contributed to this report.