DRUG TEST CASE MAY BE HEARD BY SUPREME COURT

Civil rights organization takes up cause of former teacher Sherry Hearn.

During a drug search at Windsor Forest High School, a police officer said
he found the remains of a marijuana joint in teacher Sherry Hearn's car.

The school ordered her to take a urinalysis test within two hours of the
discovery. Hearn, a social studies teacher, refused, calling the search
unconstitutional. So the veteran educator was fired for insubordination.

That was 1996.

Now a civil rights foundation is appealing her case to the highest court in
the land.

Attorneys for the Charlottesville, Va.-based Rutherford Institute filed a
petition this week asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review Hearn's suit
against the Savannah-Chatham County Board of Education.

"I am very, very fortunate to have them representing me," Hearn said in a
telephone interview Thursday night. She said she did not want to comment
further on the case.

Occasionally, civil rights organizations will take up such causes if they
are sympathetic to the plaintiff's plight, said Richard Nagareda, a law
professor at the University of Georgia.

"It's not unusual. It depends upon the legal issues," he said.

Rutherford Institute attorney John Whitehead said the case was important
because Hearn -- who taught in Chatham County schools for 27 years and was
named Teacher of the Year in 1994 -- taught her students about the U.S.
Constitution and she objected to the mandated drug test on constitutional
grounds.

"What the Supreme Court has been doing to the Fourth Amendment is
disturbing to us," Whitehead said from his Culpepper, Va., office Thursday
afternoon.

The Fourth Amendment provides protection from unreasonable search and
seizures, but in recent years the Supreme Court has expanded the rights of
law enforcement officers to search vehicles for contraband without first
obtaining a warrant.

Hearn originally appealed her firing to the state Board of Education, which
upheld the Chatham board's decision.

In 1997 she filed a federal lawsuit against the local school board. A U.S.
District judge granted a request by the board to dismiss the lawsuit.

In 1999, Hearn's lawyers argued her case before the 11th Circuit Court of
Appeals. That court also dismissed the suit. The firing was ultimately
upheld by the State Court of Appeals.

Hearn started teaching at the Savannah Regional Youth Detention Center in
1998. She was fired from that job last year. Hearn said at the time she was
not given a reason to believe she had a problem there. A Georgia Department
of Juvenile Justice spokeswoman said she was given ample reason for the
firing, but would not comment further. This second firing is unrelated to
the Rutherford Institute's appeal.

Just before the second firing, Hearn's story was the subject of a piece on
NBC's "Dateline."

"I saw that. That was very impressive," Whitehead said. "It's just the
issues, and her character seemed so good. She's basically an innocent
person who got caught in a quandary. We believe she deserves her day in
court."

But the appeal doesn't mean she'll get that day in court. The United States
Supreme Court has heard fewer and fewer cases in recent years, law
professor Nagareda said. It's well under 200 per year now, and the court
gets more appeals each year than it can possibly handle.

"For every one that they review, there are many, many, many where they
decide to let the lower court ruling stand," Nagareda said.

That's what Savannah-Chatham County school board attorney Lea Holliday
expects will happen.

"Our view is that the law has been firmly established," Holliday said
Thursday.

The school board has been notified about the appeal. Its stance remains
that the drug test was a board policy and Hearn violated that policy.

"We think the law is pretty straightforward," he said.

The Fourth Amendment

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and
effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated,
and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath of
affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the
persons or things to be seized.

Passed by Congress Sept. 25, 1789; ratified Dec. 15, 1791.

Sherry Hearn timeline

1995

August -- Sherry Hearn is selected Chatham County's 1994 Teacher of the
Year.

December -- In a speech to the Rotary Club of Savannah, Hearn calls for a
radical restructuring of education.

1996

April -- Hearn and Carolyn Snipes are placed on leave. A marijuana roach is
allegedly found in Hearn's car and suspected marijuana seed in Snipes' car.

* Snipes' drug test comes back negative and she is reinstated. Hearn
refuses to take a drug test. Hearn later takes, and passes, a drug test
administered by an independent drug company.

* Then-superintendent Patrick Russo recommends to the Board of Education
that Hearn be fired for insubordination and violation of board policy and
procedure for refusing to take a drug test.

* After a 13 1/2-hour hearing and a 5-1 vote, Hearn is fired on grounds of
insubordination. Board member John Matthews casts the only opposing vote.

May -- Hearn's lawyers submit a notice of appeal of her termination to the
state Board of Education.

October -- Hearn's lawyers present her appeal to the state Board of
Education. She is also named the 1996 Georgia Civil Liberties Award winner
by the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

November -- In an 8-0 vote, the Georgia Board of Education upholds Hearn's
firing, saying it could not rule on the constitutionality of the drug
searches or drug tests, only on whether the local school board policy was
violated.

1997

April -- Hearn files a federal lawsuit against the school board. She asks
to be rehired as a teacher and compensated for damages suffered due to the
violations of her rights. She wants the school board to give her back pay
and employment benefits, pay her legal fees and court costs and drop its
Drug-Free Workplace policy as unconstitutional.

1998

February -- U.S. District Judge B. Avant Edenfield grants a request by the
school board to dismiss the federal lawsuit against it. Hearn has 30 days
to appeal the decision.

* Hearn gets a job as a social studies teacher at the Savannah Regional
Youth Detention Center.

1999

January -- Hearn's story is the subject of NBC's "Dateline."

February -- Hearn's lawyers argue her case before the 11th Circuit Court of
Appeals. The court ultimately dismisses the suit.

* Hearn receives a letter of termination from the state and leaves her job
with the Savannah Regional Youth Detention Center.

October -- Hearn's firing by the school board is upheld by State Court of
Appeals.

2000

March -- The Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit civil liberties
organization, asks the United States Supreme Court to hear Hearn's case.

Compiled by Julia C. Muller, News Researcher

Who's petitioning the Supreme Court?

The Rutherford Institute is an international, nonprofit civil liberties
organization committed to defending constitutional and human rights,
according to a spokeswoman for the organization. The Charlottesville,
Va.-based institute is comprised of a full-time staff of 50 and a network
of more than 1,000 volunteer attorneys across the United States. Institute
attorneys handle a full range of cases in the realm of civil liberties and
human rights.

Cases currently sponsored by the institute include:

* Sternberg et al. v. Fletcher, et al.: The clients' civil rights were
violated when zoning ordinances were enacted to exclude Orthodox Jews from
worshiping in residential areas. Court granted relief and permanent
injunction against the village.

* Doe v. East Stroudsberg School District, et al.: Pennsylvania school
district forced more than 50 sixth-grade girls to undergo gynecological
exams without informed parental consent and against the girls' wishes.

* Montalvo v. Radcliffe: Luciano Montalvo's 14-year-old son was not allowed
to enroll in a karate class because he was HIV positive.