RULING GIVES HARTSELLE GO-AHEAD FOR DRUG TESTS

HARTSELLE -- The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for the Hartselle
City School system to drug test students who participate in extracurricular
activities.

In a 5-4 decision Thursday, the court said that the school system's desire
to eliminate drugs on campus outweighed any right to privacy.

Hartselle's drug committee meets Monday at 6 p.m. in the school system's
central office on College Street.

Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the opinion for himself, Chief Justice
William H. Rehnquist and Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy and
Stephen Breyer.

"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," Thomas wrote.

"The particular testing program upheld today is not reasonable, it is
capricious, even perverse," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote for the
dissenters.

In a brief, separate dissent, Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and David Souter
said they disagreed with the court's ruling in 1995 and disagree now.

The court stopped short of allowing random tests for any student, whether
or not involved in extracurricular activities, but several justices have
indicated they are interested in answering that question at some point.

Under pressure from the Hartselle City Council, the school board appointed
a 13-member committee to develop a drug-testing policy for Hartselle.

The council's request for the policy came after a baseball player tested
positive for marijuana use at Hartselle Medical Center on March 4. The
council appoints school board members.

"I'm glad that the ruling came out at this time," Hartselle Mayor Clif
Knight said. "I hope this will help the committee members in their efforts
to reach their goal."

Knight wants the committee to adopt a policy that meets legal requirements
and that school officials can apply fairly. "It would be expensive, but I'm
not opposed to them testing the entire student body," Knight said. The
court did not address universal testing.

School Board Chairman Susan Puckett said the ruling will enable the
committee to make a determination as to what is best for Hartselle. At the
last committee meeting, Mrs. Puckett and high school assistant principal
Susan Hayes suggested that the group may recommend a drug education program
over drug testing. Mrs. Hayes is chairman of the committee.

School board member Ronnie Abercrombie said the council appointed the group
to draft a policy.

"Since the court has clarified who can be tested, maybe this will speed up
the process of implementing a policy for Hartselle," Abercrombie said.