RANDOM TESTING

Logic and common sense prevailed in the U.S. Supreme Court's recent
approval of random drug testing of many public high school students.

The majority recognized that an individual student's right to privacy is
outweighed by schools' bona fide interest in ridding campuses of illegal
drug use. The 5-4 decision applies to students who join competitive
after-school activities or teams.

"We find that testing students who participate in extracurricular
activities is a reasonably effective means of addressing the school
district's legitimate concerns in preventing, deterring and detecting drug
use," Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the majority.

Concurring were Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justices Antonin
Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy and Stephen Breyer. Dissenting were Justices
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O'Connor and David Souter.

Policy Covered Range Of Clubs

In the case at hand, Board of Education of Independent School District No.
92 of Pottawatomie County v. Earls, the court ruled against a former
Oklahoma high school honor student who competed on an academic quiz team
and sang in the choir.

The honor student, Lindsay Earls, tested negative but sued over what she
called a humiliating and accusatory policy.

The Tecumseh policy covered a range of voluntary clubs and sports,
including the Future Farmers of America club, cheerleading and football.

Overall, 505 high school students were tested for drug use. Three students,
all of them athletes, tested positive.

The Pottawatomie County school system originally considered testing all
students. Instead, it settled for testing only those involved in
competitive extracurricular activities. By voluntarily representing the
school, those students had a lower expectation of privacy than did students
at large, Pottawatomie officials reasoned.

Testing May Serve As Deterrent

The testing program, which began in 1998 and ran for part of two school
years, was suspended after Ms. Earls, who now attends Dartmouth College,
and another student sued.

The court stopped short of allowing random tests for any student -
regardless of whether he or she is involved in extracurricular activities.
However, several justices have indicated they are interested in answering
that question at some point, The Associated Press reported.

Meanwhile, any drug problem on school campuses is a legitimate cause for
concern. The possibility of drug tests potentially may serve as a credible
deterrent for students who know they cannot participate in favorite
extracurricular activities unless they stay clean. Expanding schools'
ability to ferret out this addictive and deadly scourge is the logical next
step.