TEACHER DRUG TESTS MIGHT FACE SUIT

Testing Became an Issue After a Series of Drug-Related Arrests

Saying they have the support of more than 150 public school teachers,
the American Civil Liberties Union threatened yesterday to sue the
state if it does not cancel plans to randomly test teachers for drugs
by next month.

In a letter, the organization gave Gov. Linda Lingle until Nov. 15 to
suspend the program set to begin June 30. The ACLU does not oppose the
reasonable-suspicion testing portion of the policy, which would also
cover librarians, counselors and curriculum coordinators.

Lingle will review the letter -- which claims the random testing would
be illegal -- with state Attorney General Mark Bennett before
responding to the demand, said Linda Smith, her senior policy adviser.

"She continues to believe that putting the safety of our schools at
the forefront is really essential," Smith said.

The ACLU's announcement came a day after it held the last of six
meetings with teachers on all islands to discuss the testing, which
the state added as a non-negotiable item in a contract ratified this
spring by the 13,000-member Hawaii State Teachers Association.

"Teachers who have come to the meetings feel very insulted by the fact
that they are the role models and mentors to their students and yet
they are treated like criminals or suspects by the governor," said
Graham Boyd, director of the ACLU Drug Law Reform Project.

The ACLU, which contends the program would be ineffective, costly and
in violation of privacy rights, said courts have struck down similar
drug tests proposed at other schools in the country. Nationally, less
than 10 percent of school districts test teachers for drugs, according
to the teachers union.

Teachers have said they would rather use $200 -- the estimated cost of
each drug test -- to buy school supplies, said ACLU staff attorney
Carlie Ware.

In May, 61.3 percent of more than 8,000 union members voted to ratify
the contract giving them 4 percent raises in the current and next
school years. Bennett has said the ratification makes any legal
challenge moot, but Boyd said the vote has nothing do to with whether
the program is lawful.

"The governor cannot put an illegal provision into a contract and say,
'You can only get a living wage if you agree to let me break the
law,'" he said.

Plans for the drug testing policy came in the wake of six drug-related
arrests of Department of Education employees in a six-month period,
beginning in October 2006, when a Leilehua High School teacher was
arrested for dealing crystal methamphetamine. Currently, the education
department conducts drug tests only of bus drivers, some physical
therapists and auto mechanics instructors.

The teachers union has already developed guidelines to test teachers
based on reasonable suspicion, and is working out the random portion
with the Education Department.