SCHOOLS CAN DRUG-TEST STUDENTS IN AFTER-SCHOOL ACTIVITIES, COURT SAYS

School districts across the nation can require drug tests of cheerleaders,
debaters and any other students involved in after-school activities, the
U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

Until now, only student-athletes could be tested, and not many Florida
districts do it. Cost could be a major factor in whether drug screening
becomes more common anytime soon. And Florida schools are experiencing
budget problems.

The high court's decision gives schools the broadest authority yet to test
students not suspected of wrongdoing. It applies to students who join any
after-school activity, a category that can include most students at middle
and high schools.

Ruling 5-4 in an Oklahoma case, justices declared that schools' interest in
ridding campuses of drugs outweighs an individual's right to privacy.

Writing for the majority -- himself, Chief Justice William Rehnquist and
Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer -- Justice
Clarence Thomas described such testing "a reasonably effective means of
addressing the school district's legitimate concerns . . ."

Breyer, who provided the crucial fifth vote, wrote separately to say that
he hopes the testing reduces peer pressure and "addresses a serious
national problem."

"It offers the adolescent a nonthreatening reason to decline his friend's
drug-use invitations, namely that he intends to play baseball, participate
in debate, join the band or engage in any one of a half-dozen useful,
interesting and important activities," he wrote.

Voicing privacy concerns

John Wesley Hall Jr., a leader of the National Association of Criminal
Defense Lawyers, said he fears students will have to sacrifice privacy to
build skills for careers and beef up college resumes.

Of the estimated 14 million American high-school students, more than half
likely participate in an organized after-school activity, educators say.
The trend is toward even greater involvement, largely because colleges
consider it a factor in admissions.

"I don't have a problem with random drug testing for athletes purely for
safety reasons," Hall said. "How do you rationalize testing the chess club
and competitive band? That's almost laughable. You can't even say it
without snickering."

There's no Florida law allowing or prohibiting random testing of students.
Districts set their own policies. In Central Florida, only Osceola County
tests athletes.

'Let's do it all the way'

Miami-Dade County tried random testing but eventually dropped it. Officials
wanted to include all high-school students but needed parents' permission.
Few teens returned signed permission slips.

Manty Sabates Morse, a School Board member there, doesn't want to single
out one group of students.

"I just don't know if going into the clubs or anything is what I want to
do," she said. "I want to protect our kids, but if it's going to be random,
let's do it all the way and protect all of them."

Amber Efird, 15, a DeLand High School cheerleader, said she hopes Volusia
County schools won't start discussing the issue again.

"Most people don't do drugs on campus," she said. "They do it on their own
time, when they're home, so it really has nothing to do with school."

Thursday's ruling stemmed from a lawsuit filed on behalf of Lindsay Earls,
a former Oklahoma honor student who competed on an academic quiz team and
sang in the choir. She tested negative for drugs but called it a
humiliating and accusatory policy.

Her school system had considered testing all students. Instead, it settled
for testing only those in extracurricular activities on the theory that
students voluntarily representing their school had a lower expectation of
privacy than students at large.

White House backs ruling

In 1995, the court allowed random urine tests for student-athletes on that
theory.

Thursday's ruling was a logical next step, the court majority agreed.

The Bush administration backed the school system in rural Tecumseh, Okla.

Justices stopped short of allowing random tests for any student, but
several have indicated they are interested in answering that question at
some point.

Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O'Connor and
David Souter said extracurricular activities should not be discouraged. In
her dissent, Ginsburg said the "program upheld today is not reasonable, it
is capricious, even perverse."

County might test band

In Florida's Santa Rosa County, where high schools have tested athletes and
cheerleaders for years, officials may start testing the marching band,
officials said.

Some Osceola officials said it might be best to let schools decide whether
to expand drug testing. Mike Frensley, an assistant principal at Osceola
High School, where athletes are tested, isn't sure how much interest there
would be in including other student groups.

"I don't anticipate our being bombarded with requests for us to include
drug testing in their individual activities, but who knows?" he said.