DRUG TESTS ON KNOTT TEACHERS ARE HALTED

Suit Challenges Board Policy

Knott County School district officials agreed Monday to temporarily stop
mandatory drug testing of teachers, in response to a federal lawsuit filed
by a teacher last week.

Fewer than a half-dozen districts in the state share Knott's policy of
mandatory and random testing of teachers, and the issue has never been
fully tested in federal court in Kentucky, said Brad Hughes, spokesman for
the Kentucky School Boards Association.

Knott School Superintendent Harold Combs said that beginning Jan. 15, the
board instituted mandatory and random drug testing for employees in
"safety-sensitive" positions, such as teachers.

"We feel like there are so many drugs controlling our society" and Knott
County that a remedy should begin with the schools, said Combs.

Carol Crager, an elementary school teacher and a 14-year employee of Knott
County Schools, and other employees were scheduled for mandatory drug tests
March 24 or 25. But Crager's test was postponed after she filed a lawsuit
March 25 in U.S. District Court at Pikeville, claiming the policy violated
her constitutional rights.

"This is a drastic increase in normal testing," said Crager's attorney, J.
Follace Fields II of Lexington. "We feel it is overly broad and overly
invasive."

Hughes, of the school board association, said all school bus drivers in the
state are subject to drug testing, but only five other districts in
Kentucky, including Jackson, Harlan, Clay, Whitley and Knox counties,
require drug tests for employees, including teachers.

The Russell Independent district offers voluntary employee testing, he said.

Fields said he had already heard from at least one school board attorney
from another district wanting information on the lawsuit.

In Knott County, principals, assistant principals, teacher's aides,
substitute teachers, school secretaries and others are also subject to
mandatory testing.

Until now, Hughes said, the mandatory and random testing of teachers has
not been "broadly ruled on in federal court." However, limited drug testing
of employees was approved by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in connection
with a Tennessee case, he said.

Fields said the Knott policy puts no parameters on the drug testing process
and violates the American Disabilities Act, which limits an employers'
right to medical information. Fields is also concerned about a phrase in
Knott's policy that says violations will be reported to "appropriate legal
officials."

But Combs, the superintendent, said law enforcement officials won't
routinely be contacted about violations. Combs said that only a few of the
employees targeted by the policy have yet to undergo drug testing.

Under the temporary restraining order, the district will stop testing
teachers until a hearing in Lexington on Tuesday. Also under the agreement,
the board will not hold Crager in violation of the policy or require her to
report for testing.

Knott's policy for students, however, is still in place: mandatory and
random testing for all student athletes and all students who drive on
school property, Combs said.

Hughes said that some level of drug testing for students, ranging from
voluntary to mandatory, is in place in at least three dozen districts in
Kentucky.