EXPANDED DRUG TESTS OF PUPILS APPROVED

Washington --- The Supreme Court put public high school students on notice
Thursday: Drug tests may be required for playing chess or joining the
cheerleader squad.

Justices ruled 5-4 that schools' interest in ridding their campuses of
drugs outweighs students' right to privacy, allowing the broadest drug
testing yet of young people whom authorities have no particular reason to
suspect of wrongdoing.

The decision gives school leaders a free hand to test students who
participate in competitive after-school activities or teams --- more than
half the estimated 14 million American high school students.

Drug tests had been allowed previously just for student athletes.

"We find that testing students who participate in extracurricular
activities is a reasonably effective means of addressing the school
district's legitimate concerns in preventing, deterring and detecting drug
use," Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for himself, Chief Justice William
Rehnquist and Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in a dissent, said the "program upheld today
is not reasonable, it is capricious, even perverse."

The court ruled against a former Oklahoma high school honor student who
competed on an academic quiz team and sang in the choir. Lindsay Earls, a
self-described "goody two-shoes," tested negative but sued over what she
called a humiliating and accusatory policy. She said Thursday was "a sad
day for students in America."

In Georgia, random drug testing of students has not been an issue. Metro
districts, such as DeKalb, Clayton and Gwinnett, do not conduct drug tests,
even on student athletes.

"We haven't had any schools request that we consider doing that; we haven't
had any parents request that we consider doing that," said Garry McGiboney,
head of discipline and safety for the DeKalb district.

The Georgia High School Association, which oversees sports and competitive
extracurricular programs such as drama, leaves the decision to local
boards. Sponsors of extracurricular activities do not need a drug test to
dismiss a student, said Paul Kraack, spokesman for the Clayton school
district. Sponsors and coaches can remove a student because of a bad
attitude, bad behavior, lethargic play, tardiness and other symptoms that
could result from drug use.