RANDOM DRUG TESTING OF TEACHERS DEBATED

ROBBINSVILLE, N.C. -- Teachers in this small rural town's school
district are awaiting a state appeals court ruling to see whether
they'll be required to submit to random tests for drugs and alcohol.

Graham County, N.C., which has fewer than 1,200 students, is one of a
small group of school districts in the nation attempting to establish
random drug tests of teachers and other employees.

The district would be among the "very, very few" to randomly test
teachers, American Civil Liberties Union staff attorney Adam Wolf says.

School districts in at least four Kentucky counties -- Knott,
Montgomery, Letcher and Floyd -- do random testing, the Kentucky
Education Association's Tim Southern said.

Teachers in Kanawha County, W.Va., came close to being subjected to
such testing, but three days before its Jan. 1 start, a federal
district court stopped it. The idea is also on hold in Hawaii,
awaiting a state board's ruling.

"It would be in our view a waste of money, because there is no
problem that a drug-testing program can address," said Michael
Simpson, assistant general counsel with the National Education Association.

In North Carolina, a lawsuit by the state teachers' association
prevented a 2007 start for random drug testing in Graham County schools.

Former county school board chairman Mitch Colvard says he saw a
worsening local drug problem in his job as a paramedic. He pushed for
the policy in 2006.

"I think when I put my kids in their hands, they lose their rights,"
Colvard says. "My rights are more important."

Robbinsville teacher Cheryl Morgan says testing would pull her from
the classroom when she's under pressure to boost test scores.

Teacher Crystal White says no one under the influence should have
charge of children.

Reports of drug use have spurred testing efforts.

"Like many other folks, we have had a number of our employees either
on or off the job found with drugs or been accused of having drugs,"
said Jim Withrow, Kanawha County Schools' general counsel.