BRISTOL SCHOOL BOARD TO LOOK AT DRUG, ALCOHOL POLICY

The constitutional ins and outs of student drug testing will be on the
Bristol Virginia School Board agenda in February, when a draft drug and
alcohol policy affecting students in athletics and extracurricular
activities will be presented. Board members agreed during their Monday
meeting to hold a first reading on a draft "Comprehensive Drug and Alcohol
Plan" that is expected to deal with issues such as dog searches on school
property and testing of students for drugs.

Superintendent Frank Finan later said that the draft probably will be
submitted to his office by School Board attorney Joe Lyle about a week
before the board's Feb. 17 meeting.

Lyle provided board members with a general outline Monday of U.S. Supreme
Court case law on school searches and drug testing of students, as board
members questioned him regarding the conditions and legal parameters of a
policy involving those issues.

Lyle said that Supreme Court case law from 1995 and 2002 basically
restricts school system drug testing of students to athletes and those
involved in extracurricular activities.

"What you should understand is, just because they are students and children
doesn't mean when they step into school they lose their Fourth Amendment
rights," Lyle said. "If you do not have a reasonable suspicion if
conducting a search, you can open yourself up to liability."

Lyle said that the Supreme Court's 1995 decision regarding a school
division stated that athletes could be subject to testing not as punishment
but for protection of the student and those around him or her. A 2002
decision basically expanded the prior decision to all students in
extracurricular activities, he said.

The Virginia High School League's oversight of several non-athletic
programs -- drama, yearbook and forensics competitions, for example --
indicate that students in those activities would be subject to any
drug-testing program the school system might implement, Lyle added.

Aside from confidentiality and security issues in any testing, Lyle said,
the school system would also have to come up with a system of
"three-strikes" sanctions that would not subject the student to school
division or law enforcement discipline.

Students' legal expectations of privacy also enter into developing a
policy, Lyle said, and the School Board would also have to consider options
for a drug policy involving extracurricular activities -- whether students
should just consent to a random testing program or actually have to take a
drug test before joining an activity; intervention and counseling; parental
notification; and allowing for legitimate use of prescription drugs.

Board Chairman John Kieffer asked Lyle if he researched drug search issues
in schools, and Lyle said that the board needs to consider reasonable
suspicion issues. Lyle said he recommended against taking a police drug dog
into a classroom and having it sniff students because of the psychological
impact.

Lyle did say that students' legal expectations to privacy did stop at dog
searches on school grounds when properly trained and certified dogs detect
indications of illegal substances at a student's locker or a vehicle in a
parking lot.

Constitutional search and seizure provisions also make a difference in how
locker and vehicle searches are handled, Lyle said, since a police officer
would have to get a search warrant. School officials under some conditions,
however, might be able to make a search with demonstrated reasonable
suspicion and not need a warrant, he added.

Kieffer asked Lyle if students taking driver's education classes could be
required to take drug testing.

"I'd be reluctant to," Lyle said. "I don't know if driver's education is a
mandatory course. ... I'd be reluctant to expand it beyond the parameters
set by the Supreme Court."

Lyle also said that drug testing for extracurricular activities gives
students an "excuse not to succumb to peer pressure."

"As long as (students) are not punished by the school, by the authorities,
then I think you'll be well within the court's parameters," Lyle said.