SUMMARY JUDGMENT VINDICATES TULIA ISD DRUG TESTING POLICY

TULIA -- U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson of Amarillo ruled
against a Tulia man Friday in a lawsuit contesting the Tulia
Independent School District's drug testing policy, according to court
papers.

Alan Bean will have to pay the school's taxable costs in the 2001
case, which was the second case challenging the district's policy of
randomly testing extracurricular students.

Robinson granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants, which
included the school district and Sam Sadler, president of the Tulia
school board. Summary judgment is a judgment made without trial.

Obviously, we're disappointed," Bean said. But after the Supreme Court
ruled in 2002 that testing all extracurricular students was legal, he
said he saw the writing on the wall.

We were at the point where we either retool our arguments from scratch
or yield to the inevitable," he said. Bean said he doesn't know if
he'll appeal, but hoped someone would come forward to continue
fighting the district policy.

Ken Miller, Tulia schools superintendent, said he expected the court
to rule in the district's favor.

"We're happy that it's all said and done," Miller said. He said the
district continues to test extracurricular students from seventh
through 12th grade.

Bean filed the lawsuit on behalf of his son Amos. It alleged the
district's policy violated Amos Bean's rights under the U.S. and Texas
constitutions with the suspicionless drug testing of athletes.

Robinson found otherwise, stating in the summary judgment opinion that
the policy meets the standards of constitutionality.

She could not find proof to Bean's assertion that the policy was
actually suspicion-based and racially biased, according to court
papers. She charged that Bean did not bring enough evidence to support
the claim.

The school district, on the other hand, brought additional evidence
supporting the random, suspicionless drug testing procedure the
district actually used, according to court papers.

Bean said Friday he wants to see a more detailed report showing the
breakdown of the racial and ethnic composition of students in
extracurricular activities, compared to the students who actually took
the test.

"We used the evidence we had," he said. "I thought we made a strong
case."

Bean also argued to the court his son was drug-tested after he revoked
his written consent to give the test.

Robinson said in her opinion he showed no evidence the consent was
revoked or when the drug test was performed.

Miller said in his response to the lawsuit that he was unaware of any
such drug test.

Robinson also ruled Bean's claims for declaratory and injunctive
relief became moot upon his son's high school graduation in May.

The first lawsuit to contest Tulia's drug-testing policy, filed by
Hollister Gardner, was rejected on appeal earlier this month.