COURT RULING WON'T PROMPT RANDOM DRUG TESTING IN SCHOOLS HERE

New Jersey's highest court ruled 4-3 that Hunterdon Central could continue
to randomly test students involved in extracurricular activities.

Area school officials have no plans to adopt random drug testing, even
though the state Supreme Court, ruling in a case involving Hunterdon
Central High School, said such tests do not violate the state constitution.

"We have no plans to do any kind of random testing," Jeffrey Graber, the
Princeton Regional School District's assistant superintendent for
curriculum and instruction, said Monday.

"I don't have a problem with it if a school has decided it has a problem,"
Anne Marie Weber, principal of Montgomery High School, said Monday. "We
have decided it's not needed here at this time."

Montgomery High School students are tested for drug use "if we have reason
to believe they're under the influence," Ms. Weber said.

In that case, the student is taken to a doctor for a controlled sample, she
said.

In Princeton, parents are informed that the school district wants the child
screened, Dr. Graber said. The parents have the option of getting the
student tested by his or her own doctor, but they will have to pay for it.

Drug testing happens "very infrequently," Ms. Weber said.

And the same goes for Princeton, Dr. Graber said.

Jon Cosse, acting superintendent of the West Windsor-Plainsboro School
District, was unavailable for comment.

On Thursday, the state's highest court ruled 4-3 that Hunterdon Central
could continue to randomly test students involved in extracurricular
activities.

The state Supreme Court followed the lead of the U.S. Supreme Court, which
in 1995 ruled that schools could randomly test student athletes and in 2002
ruled that schools could randomly test students involved in non-athletic
extracurricular activities.

Thursday's ruling applies only to Hunterdon Central's testing program.

"The New Jersey Constitution remains a critical safeguard against
unreasonable, unfair and overbearing governmental action," Justice Peter
Verniero wrote in the majority opinion. "The program before us, however,
reflects no such conduct."

Hunterdon Central documented illegal drug and alcohol use by students. The
program is well-documented and contains a testing program that is not
intrusive to students, Justice Verniero said.

"We state again that our holding is not to be construed as an automatic
green light for schools wishing to replicate Hunterdon Central's program,"
Justice Verniero wrote.

"The program is reasonable and, therefore, constitutional," Justice
Verniero wrote.

Justice Jaynee LaVecchia, in a dissenting opinion, wrote that there was no
reason for Hunterdon Central to single out for drug testing students who
take part in non-athletic extracurricular activities.

"There is no doubt that we would not countenance mass drug testing, without
any demonstration of cause, of individuals found to loiter on street
corners in known drug-infested neighborhoods," Justice LeVecchia wrote.
"Public school students, unconnected with drug use or its promotion in any
way, should enjoy no less protection from random bodily searches."