KIDS AND COMMUNITY: SCHOOL DISTRICTS FACE TEST ON DRUGS

A fourth "R" has been added to the traditional public school experience.
Along with reading, 'riting, and 'rithmatic, many middle and high school
students participating in extracurricular activities may now be subject to
random drug testing.

On June 27, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that a state's
responsibility for maintaining discipline, health and safety in children
outweighs the Fourth Amendment guarantee of reasonable grounds for search
and seizure.

With this decision, a portion of America's youth has been stripped of a
fundamental Constitutional right. Moreover, such drug testing is quite
likely to discourage participation in extracurricular activities, which are
effective drug prevention tools.

Fortunately, school districts have a choice about whether to wield this
power; they can "just say no" to authorizing random drug tests without
probable cause that an existing drug violation exists.

The Ruling

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 vote, upheld the Student Activities
Testing Policy adopted by the Tecumseh, Oklahoma School District, which
required all middle and high school students "to consent to urinalysis
testing for drugs in order to participate in any extracurricular activity."

This reversed the decision made by the 10th Circuit court which concluded
that "before imposing a suspicionless drug testing program a school must
demonstrate some identifiable drug abuse problem among a significant number
of those tested, such that testing that group will actually redress its
drug problem."

The highest court ruled that Tecumseh's policy is a "reasonable means of
furthering the School District's important interest in preventing and
deterring drug use among its school children and does not violate the
Fourth Amendment."

It felt that "in the public school context, a search may be reasonable when
supported by 'special needs beyond the normal needs of law enforcement" and
that urine testing of students is not an undue invasion of student privacy.

(The entire statement of the Supreme Court ruling can be found on the
Internet at www.supremecourtus.gov.)

This ruling ignores the positive role that participation in extracurricular
activities has for teens.

Positive Functions

A 1995 government study of adolescent use of leisure time found that
participation in extracurricular activities helps reduce student
involvement in risky activities, such as drug use, by reducing their
after-school free time. Extracurricular activities were also shown to
lessen the drop-out rate, and reduce incidence of juvenile crime.

For example, compared to peers who spent 1 to 4 hours per week in
extracurricular activities, those tenth-graders who did not participate at
all were: "57 percent more likely to have dropped out by the time they
would have been seniors; 49 percent more likely to have used drugs; 37
percent more likely to have become teen parents; 35 percent more likely to
have smoked cigarettes and 27 percent more likely to have been arrested."

We also know that the peak hours for violent juvenile crime are between 3
p.m. and 8 p.m. - the time when millions of youngsters are left without
adult supervision or constructive activities. And that the sharpest
increase in juvenile crime occurs between the hours of 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.,
when the rate nearly triples.

By flexing the muscle of random drug testing to a population of kids that
is not getting in trouble, who have a supervised and safe place to spend
these high-risk hours, we are addressing the wrong group.

Indeed, many teens interviewed in the media say that if random drug testing
is initiated they would drop out of extracurricular activities. This is not
because they use drugs and are afraid of being caught, but they simply
object to the arbitrary wielding of power by the school system.

There are other legitimate questions raised by the drug testing issue.

Most random drug tests screen for traces of drugs such as cocaine,
marijuana, amphetamines, opiates, barbiturates, and benzodiazepines.
Students who engage in healthy after-school programs may well ask why they
are being singled out when their teachers and administrators are free of
such testing. Isn't the ability to function just as compromised by adult's
use of these substances?

Taxpayers may ask if the enormous cost of individual drug testing - $30 to
$60 dollars per kit per child - is worth straining school district budgets
and if this allocation will compromise the goal of a well-rounded education
for their children. Marching bands, school newspapers, debate societies,
chess clubs, intra-scholastic teams and similar extracurricular activities
are traditionally vulnerable at budget crunch times.

Finally, all citizens may ask why the lower courts have consistently ruled
unconstitutional the random drug testing of students participating in
extracurricular activities (other than sports) as invasive and violating
individual rights. Yet this Supreme Court has disagreed and by one vote has
given this discretionary power to all school districts.

My Hope

My hope is that school districts will realize that random drug testing does
not address the No. 1 drug that school kids use - alcohol - and that it can
alienate a group of teens who are a valuable future resource for our society.

Nine out of ten students experiment with alcohol before graduation from
high school. Many of these experiences result in inebriation and high-risk
behaviors with regard to driving and sexual activities. Some students will
advance from experimentation to dependence to addiction.

My hope is that existing alcohol, tobacco and nicotine prevention money
will not be diverted to drug-testing kit purchases. "Pee tests" (as kids
call them) do not test for alcohol use, nor do they usually test for
steroid or nicotine use, all incredibly harmful substances used by many teens.

My hope is that we will use drug testing money to test those kids whom we
have a real reason to believe have substance abuse problems. And that, when
identified, we will use additional funds for treatment of both the student
and family.

My hope is that we, as a society, will come to realize that alcohol,
tobacco and other drug use by teens is simply a reflection of adult values.
Our kids mirror the unhealthy behaviors in which the larger society engages
on a day-to-day basis.

While it is surely good to have drug-free schools, it is more important
that families and communities practice this principle as adults. It is
important that our sports heroes and entertainers reflect positive role
models in this arena. Social change begins with adults modeling appropriate
behaviors.

Using The Power Wisely

My hope is that school districts around the country will realize they have
an important educational and civic choice to make: They can "just say no"
to randomly drug testing individuals who have given them no cause for this
action.

Otherwise, how do we explain to our kids that they are held to a different
standard than adults with regard to a fundamental Constitutional right?

The Supreme Court ruling offers school districts a powerful but potentially
destructive choice. May we learn to use - or refuse to use it - wisely.