LEGAL SETBACK FOR DRUG TESTING OF TEACHERS

Charleston, W.Va. -- A federal judge today halted a West Virginia school
district's plans to randomly test its teachers for drug use.

Nearly all school employees were to be tested under the Kanahwa County
School Board's policy, which is similar to a Western North Carolina school
system's policy that is also being challenged in court.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which sued along with the state
teachers' association to stop the West Virginia policy, said a U.S.
District Court judge suspended the policy pending a final ruling.

"Noting that studies show that teachers are among the least likely
employees to use drugs and that most courts have struck down programs that
randomly drug tested teachers, the court stated that constitutional rights
cannot be sacrificed for mere symbolic purposes," the ACLU said in a news
release.

"Today's order affirms the constitutional rights of our public servants,"
ACLU attorney Adam Wolf said in a statement. "Random, suspicionless drug
testing of teachers is unnecessary, ineffective and illegal. With today's
order, we hope that the School Board will finally reconsider its doomed
policy and save the taxpayers any further expense."

In Graham County, a lawsuit by the N.C. Association of Educators was
dismissed in Superior Court and is awaiting a decision by the N.C. Court
of Appeals.