SCHOOL OFFICIALS NEED TO INCLUDE PARENTS IN DRUG TESTING DECISIONS

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision last week making way for widespread drug
testing in the nation's public schools could soon hit home for Clarke
County students, parents and school officials. In the 5-4 ruling, the court
found schools' need to purge illicit drugs from their campuses trumps
students' right to privacy -- regardless of whether there is any reason to
believe a student may be using drugs. The judgment upheld an Oklahoma
school district's policy for testing students who participate in
competitive after-school activities or teams. A previous ruling had
established the constitutionality of testing only student athletes. The
Clarke County School District has, for some time, considered expanding its
anti-drug efforts through the use of drug-detection dogs and increased
testing. Police dogs could be used as early as this fall for random
searches of lockers and student cars for the presence of drugs. Clarke
school officials also have been interested in broadening the current drug
testing of athletes to also include any student who drives to school.
Concerns about the constitutionality of such suspicionless searches had
kept school officials from enacting the drug policy change, but, after last
week's Supreme Court decision, discussions are expected to pick up
momentum. That's welcome news to those parents who believe a serious drug
problem exists in our schools and that widespread drug testing may be the
only solution. Not everyone is pleased by the Supreme Court ruling. Even
though legal issues may now be resolved, school drug testing still evokes
concerns in the minds of many people. No matter how compelling the reasons,
forcing students to submit to drug tests is seen by some to be a degrading
and humiliating invasion of an individual's most private possession,
his/her body. If made to choose between taking a drug test and not
participating in extracurricular activities, some students may opt to
protect their privacy even if it means missing out on a positive
opportunity. Still others may be uncomfortable with the idea of leaving
parents out of the decision-making process on such an important issue.
After all, parents have to give permission for their child to go on a field
trip, to be given an aspirin, to attend sex education classes or to be
vaccinated against disease. If those things warrant parent approval,
shouldn't a drug test on their child's urine also qualify? We believe
school officials should give serious consideration to granting parents the
right to choose whether their child should be included in any drug testing
program. As discussions about expanded drug testing in Clarke County public
schools pick up again, we encourage parents and students to work closely
with school officials to find the least intrusive way of keeping drugs out
of our schools.