DRUG TESTS APPROVED FOR SCHOOLS

Public schools can force students to take drug tests to participate in
extracurricular activities, an Oklahoma City federal judge ruled Thursday.

U.S. District Judge David L. Russell issued the precedent-setting
ruling in a case in which two high school students sued the Tecumseh
school board, alleging the district's drug testing policy violated
their constitutional right to be free from unreasonable searches and
seizures.

The U.S. Supreme Court previously ruled that a school district could
require drug testing of students engaged in athletic
competition.

Russell's ruling expands that decision and means school districts can
require students to take drug tests to participate in other
extracurricular activities such as choir, marching band, color guard,
Future Farmers of America, Future Homemakers of America, academic
teams, pompom squads and cheerleading.

"We're extremely pleased with the decision," Tecumseh School
Superintendent Tom Wilsie said Thursday. "We feel we had presented a
good case, and we're pleased the court agreed with us."

The schools' drug testing policy was suspended pending the outcome of
the federal court decision.

Wilsie said the school board will have to meet to discuss reinstating
the policy. That probably will be done at a special meeting of the
board, but no meeting has been called.

American Civil Liberties Union attorney Graham Boyd, who represented
the students who sued the school district, could not be reached for
comment Thursday on whether an appeal is planned.

In a 25-page order, Russell discussed the tragic impact that drug use
has had on school children.

"While the evidence in this case does not show a drug problem of
epidemic proportions, or a student body in a state of rebellion, it
certainly shows legitimate cause for concern," the judge wrote. "This
court is well aware of the prevalence of illegal drugs in our society,
including schools."

He also noted "the devastating effects of illegal drug use, not only
upon the users, but upon the countless others whose lives are touched."

"Children grow chemically dependent more quickly than adults, and
their record of recovery is depressingly poor," he wrote. "The effects
of a drug-infested school are visited not just upon the users, but
upon the entire student body and faculty, as the education process is
disrupted."

Considering what is at stake, Russell said he found the intrusion into
the students' privacy interests to be "minimal."

The Tecumseh drug testing policy required all students who participate
in extracurricular activities to submit to drug testing. Students were
required to undergo drug testing randomly during the year while
participating, and at any time while participating in competitive
activities upon reasonable suspicion.

The district's drug test is designed to detect amphetamines,
marijuana, cocaine, opiates, barbiturates and benzodiazepines.

Random drug testing was conducted at Tecumseh schools on about eight
occasions during the 1998-99 school year, with about 20 students
tested each time.

CONTRIBUTING: Staff writer Steve Wedel