JUDGE RULES AGAINST STUDENT'S CHALLENGE

A contender for valedictorian at Gulf Shores High cannot return to
classes to finish her senior year after school officials applied a
zero-tolerance policy and expelled her for having marijuana fragments
on the floor of her car, according to a federal judge's ruling Tuesday.

Relatives of Virginia "Jenny" Hammock say they are still deciding
whether she will complete her senior year at an alternative school or
obtain a GED from the state.

During a drug search of the Gulf Shores High School parking lot in
February, drug dogs barked at her parked Toyota 4-Runner. When
officers searched the car, they found plant fragments which tested as
marijuana. Under the Baldwin County system's zero-tolerance drug
policy, school officials suspended, then expelled her. Her parents
filed a suit in federal court asking that Hammock receive the right to
return to school. Hammock, her parents said, had been chosen as
homecoming queen, newspaper and yearbook editor. Oglethorpe University
in Atlanta, where Hammock plans to attend in the fall, said it would
accept a General Education Development certificate if the school did
not readmit her, her mother said.

U.S. District Judge Charles R. Butler Jr. denied the request for an
injunction that would have allowed Hammock to return to school. He
ruled that school officials did not violate Hammock's rights to due
process, offered her the chance to attend alternative school and
provided her equal protection under the law.

'Get on with her life'

"Zero tolerance does not mean zero common sense," said Jenny's father,
Dr. Roy Hammock. "I just hope she can get her self-respect back and
get on with her life."

Attorneys for Hammock and the Baldwin County School Board presented
their arguments before Butler at a hearing last week. Foley-based
attorney James May argued for the Hammocks that there was a lack of
uniformity throughout the public school system when it involved
punishing students found with drugs in their possession. He also
argued his client was not given a proper hearing before being expelled.

Parties involved in the case dispute how much evidence was found in
the car.

Baldwin County schools attorney Bob Campbell, however, told the
Register there was enough marijuana found in Hammock's car to make at
least three "joints," and that marijuana seeds were scattered
throughout, including on the driver's side. He added that Hammock
drove this car each day and that she had received a permit to park it
in the high school parking lot.

No prosecution

But May said that no evidence had been presented at any time
indicating that officers had found enough marijuana to prosecute his
client.

"They could never have pressed charges in this case. In fact, the
principal had the authority to sign a warrant for her," he said.
Principal Larry Keys, however, chose not to sign the warrant, May said.

"She's the bastard stepchild of the drug war," May
said.

According to Butler's ruling released Tuesday, the school system
offered Hammock two hearings regarding her expulsion and she could
have called any witnesses.

"Due process demands only that plaintiff be permitted to present her
side of the story, not that school administrators accept it," court
documents state.

Butler also turned aside claims that Hammock had not received equal
treatment from the Baldwin County School Board. At Rosinton Elementary
School in Baldwin County, Principal Susie Nelson had testified that
she suspended five pupils for three days after a parent found
marijuana seeds at her home and it was later discovered that there had
been seeds at school, court documents state.

Butler ruled that Hammock's lawyer could not compare the treatment of
sixth-graders to that of a high school senior. At Gulf Shores High
School, teachers, police officers and other school officials said that
there had been a problem with drug use in the parking lot, Campbell
said.

"Certainly, a high school principal faces a more formidable challenge
in the attempt to keep his school drug-free than an elementary school
principal," the judge wrote.

Finally, the judge said that although Hammock has the right to public
education, she does not have the right to attend a specific school.
Hammock's attorney had argued that her placement in alternative school
- - what he called "reform school" - would affect the way that
prospective employers and college admissions officers viewed her.

Officials pleased

Baldwin County school officials said they were pleased with the court
ruling.

"It sends the message that we won't tolerate drugs on our school
campuses," said Albert Thomas, superintendent. He praised Keys'
handling of the zero-tolerance policies.

"I think he's doing an excellent job," Thomas said.

Hammock is one of three students whom Gulf Shores High School
officials expelled this year during routine drug searches of the
parking lot.

Senior class vice president Ryan Jones was expelled in November after
a drug dog barked at his brown Volkswagen Quantum. Officers searched
the car and found under the seat a pipe that could have been used to
smoke marijuana, said his father, Kris Jones. Jones explained to
school officials that it belonged to a classmate he had offered to
drive to school for extra gas money. Jones spent 10 weeks at the
alternative school and returned to Gulf Shores High March 10.

Jones said he has been accepted at Jacksonville State University,
Auburn University and the University of Montevallo. But, he said,
while at alternative school, he missed out on crucial information for
seniors, such as when to fill out financial aid forms.

Other cases

Clashes between zero-tolerance policies and its students have been
heard throughout the United States. But they have received even more
attention recently in South Alabama.

Loxley Elementary School officials suspended a fifth-grader for three
days in February 1999 for allegedly distributing inhalants, school
documents state. The girl had picked up lemon-scented towelettes at an
Alabama Power Co. tailgate party where ribs were served, said her
mother. When the girl talked to a classmate about how the towelettes
gave off a "high," her mother said, a third student turned her
daughter in.

A state judge ruled Friday that a Citronelle High School senior could
not attend his prom after he had been suspended under zero-tolerance
policies. Court documents state that school officials suspended the
student after they discovered that he drove to school his father's
pickup truck filled with beer in a cooler in the bed of the truck and
"one or more bottles of Jack Daniels whiskey" inside the truck.

Ryan Jones said his run-in with zero-tolerance policies has soured him
on Gulf Shores High School. Certain administrators, he said, are "out
to get you, not to teach you."

But his father, Kris Jones, said he and his wife have tried to keep
their son's spirits up and keep him focused on his future.

"I told my son that sometimes you get dealt bad hands," Jones said.
"Usually when you get tried by this, you come out a better person."