PARENTS SUE SCHOOL DISTRICT OVER DRUG TESTING

A complaint for declaratory relief was filed Tuesday afternoon in Lincoln
County Circuit Court by the Portland law offices of Mitchell, Lang and
Smith against the Lincoln County School District, because of its
cooperation with Oregon Health Sciences University in a student-athlete
random drug testing research study. Thomas Christ and Todd Baran,
cooperating attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of
Oregon, Inc., filed the complaint for plaintiffs Mike, Merrick and Megan
Kriz, and Mark and Jordan Morlok, all of Toledo, against defendant LCSD.
Megan Kriz plays volleyball for Toledo High School, and Jordan Morlok is a
member of Toledo's football squad. The complaint asks the court to declare
LCSD's drug testing policy and rule in violation of Megan Kriz's and Jordan
Morlok's rights under the Oregon constitution, and to enjoin the school
district from enforcing its drug-testing policy and rule against either
student. Jann Carson, associate director of the ACLU in Portland, said the
complaint is simple and direct - the school district is implementing
random, suspicion-less drug testing, the students want to participate in
sports, and the school district does not suspect them of using drugs. She
said the ACLU believes the school district is violating the students'
constitutional rights by requiring student-athletes to participate in drug
testing. Christ was the plaintiff's lawyer in a 1995 case that ended with
the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the Vernonia School District's use of
random drug testing of student athletes.

That case began in 1991 when a Vernonia seventh-grader was barred from
playing football because he refused to take part in the school-implemented
drug testing.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in a 1996 appeal that the Vernonia School
District could bar student-athletes from playing on a school team for
refusing a drug test. The question came to be whether the government has
more of a right to test those who are not necessarily thought to be guilty
of using drugs against the right of an individual's privacy. The 1996 U.S.
Supreme Court decision left a precedent for school districts throughout
Oregon and the nation to begin drug testing athletes because the court
stipulated that athletes have a reduced expectation of privacy. Christ is
taking the case against LCSD to the Oregon courts instead, with the belief
that the drug testing violates an individual's right to be free from
unreasonable government searches, as guaranteed by Article I, section 9, of
the Oregon Constitution. "The government can't search without probable
cause," Christ said Tuesday. "In this state, you can't search without
suspicion and a warrant.

With this drug testing, you are violating that provision." The LCSD board
of directors approved a motion last year for its high schools to be part of
OHSU's SATURN: Student Athlete Testing Using Random Notification program,
which is a grant-funded research project aimed at assessing the use of
drugs among athletes and determining whether drug testing reduces such use.
A handful of parents questioned the board about its approval of drug
testing last year, but it was not until this month that parents and
students in the county, particularly at Toledo High School, began to
question the LCSD decision more seriously. "That took quite a while before
anyone stepped forward," said Christ about how long it took for the
Vernonia case to get started. "There are small-minded people who think if
you are against drug testing, you are condoning the use of drugs." It is
just that attitude that the Kriz and Morlok families have been facing, and
they are trying to make sure the community understands that they do not
condone drug use. Instead, they are against drug testing. Oregon has no
precedent for the case, Christ said. The Kriz and Morlok families are not
suing for anything more than to recover costs, while the lawyers for the
case have taken the job pro bono (free of charge) for the ACLU. "They are
not suing for money, simply asking a judge if it is permitted," said
Christ. The SATURN study is being conducted at high schools throughout
Oregon and Washington. Schools that are part of the test group require
their athletes to take part in the random drug testing using urinalysis by
persons of the same gender, and breath tests.

Schools that are part of the constant group will only be given drug-use
surveys. In Lincoln County, Toledo and Taft high schools have been chosen
to be part of the test group, and the first urinalysis is expected to take
place at Toledo High School before the end of the month.

All of Lincoln County's high schools, except Waldport, have already been
given the drug-use surveys.

Waldport High had not returned a sufficient number of waiver forms to take
part in the survey as of last week. Waiver forms must be completed before
participation in the survey. Toledo High School reported a survey return
rate of about 5 percent. The numbers of surveys returned at Newport and
Taft were much higher. Toledo High School parents and students plan to meet
at 7 p.m. tonight (Wednesday) at the Toledo Library to discuss further
courses of action - for example, what will happen if players decide not to
take part in the urinalysis.