PLAINTIFFS MAINTAIN STUDENT POLICY VIOLATES U.S., ARKANSAS CONSTITUTIONS

Four parents have filed a civil lawsuit in Faulkner County Circuit Court on
behalf of their children to stop drug testing, which was just adopted this
year by the Conway School District.

Bruce Plopper, one of the plaintiffs, said Monday, "I think the students
are not property and you have to treat them as human beings."

He was one of the most vocal opponents of drug testing while the issue was
debated at meetings of the Conway School District's Board of Education. The
school board voted 4-3 in August to adopt a drug-testing policy. Students
in grades seven through 12 in extracurricular activities will be randomly
tested.

Conway Superintendent James Simmons said he had turned the matter over to
Bill Brazil, the school district's attorney. "He'll tell us what we need to
do," Simmons said, adding he was surprised the parents filed the lawsuit.

"We'll just go right on until somebody tells us not to," Simmons said. No
students have been tested, yet. Monday was the day when the district's
principals had to turn in the names of all students in extracurricular
activities, Simmons said. Those names will be given to Counseling
Associates so a database can be created for the random testing.

Other parents listed as plaintiffs are Michael D. Conine, and Henry A. and
Maureen L. Zimmerebner. The lawsuit was filed by Conway attorney Lynn Plemmons.

Even though the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled it is legal to randomly test
students in extracurricular activities, "the Arkansas Constitution allows
more protection under search and seizure," Plopper said.

"For the various reasons listed in our petition, we believe the policy
violates the Arkansas Constitution, Arkansas common law and the spirit of
statutory law in general. We also believe the policy violates the Equal
Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution," Plopper said in a statement
issued Monday. "The step we have taken today is a natural move to protect
our children's rights."

The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order and permanent injunction on
the drug testing, which the plaintiffs call suspicionless, because they
maintain it violates students' common law right to privacy against
intrusion and restricts student freedom in a way that "contradicts the
spirit of a parallel Arkansas statute concerning student freedom."

It also contends that "the student drug-testing policy is impermissibly vague."

The lawsuit states that drug-testing students in elective, for-credit
classes such as band, choir, newspaper, orchestra, etc., while not testing
students in classes such as advanced placement English, violates the equal
protection clause of the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment. The plaintiffs
maintain that students "volunteer" for extracurricular activities the same
way they "volunteer" to take unrequired advanced placement classes.

Dr. Terry Fiddler, president of the Conway school board, said, "The main
point is, if these were questions prior to this, why were they not brought
up before?"

Fiddler also said he doesn't understand some of the issues put forth in the
lawsuit. "I guess this is legalese."

Fiddler voted against the drug policy in August, but now that it's a
policy, "it's backed by all the board members," he maintained.

Others school districts in Faulkner County that have implemented drug
testing are Vilonia, Greenbrier, Mayflower and Mount Vernon-Enola.