STUDENTS FILE SUIT OVER DRUG TESTING

NEWARK -- Three students filed a lawsuit against a Hunterdon County
high school Thursday, challenging what civil rights activists say is a
random drug testing policy for those who park on campus or participate
in athletics and extracurricular activities.

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey filed the lawsuit on
behalf of the families of three students who attend Hunterdon Central
Regional High School in Flemington.

J. C. Salyer, a staff attorney with the ACLU, said the policy violates
student privacy rights under the state constitution and provides no
justifiable reason for testing.

"Random suspicious-less testing is what it boils down to," Salyer
said.

The policy was adopted during the last academic year, but goes into
effect Sept. 8, Salyer said. It is an expansion of an existing 1997
policy that randomly tested student athletes, he said.

"I'm not sure how many students it will cover," Salyer said. "At some
point, it will be every student in the school."

The U.S. Supreme Court has allowed random drug testing for student
athletes if a school shows reasonable suspicion, but state courts have
been broader in interpreting individual privacy rights, Salyer said.

Salyer said although the New Jersey Supreme Court never has ruled on a
case involving school drug testing policies, a state Superior Court
judge stuck down a drug testing policy in the Carlstadt-East
Rutherford Regional School District in 1985.

Last year, the Ridgefield Park school district dropped a drug testing
policy after a lower court issued a temporary injunction against the
school for failing to justify the testing, Salyer said.

The three students represented in the lawsuit include a varsity
gymnast, a Model United Nations participant, and a writer with the
school's online literary magazine.