JUSTICES OK WIDESPREAD DRUG TESTING FOR STUDENTS

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled yesterday that schools can require random drug
tests for students who participate in extracurricular activities.

By a vote of 5-4, the justices ruled that local school officials'
responsibility for the health and safety of their students can outweigh
those students' concerns about privacy.

But the court's decision doesn't settle the issue in this state.

The Washington state Constitution has stronger protections against random
searches than the U.S. Constitution, some legal experts say. And a lawsuit
filed in 1999 by two families against the Wahkiakum School District may
determine what effect yesterday's ruling will have here.

The Supreme Court decision involved an Oklahoma school district that
required students to submit to random urinalysis if they wanted to take
part in after-school activities including choir, band or athletics.

"A student's privacy interest is limited in a public school environment
where the state is responsible for maintaining discipline, health and
safety," wrote Justice Clarence Thomas for the majority.

"Schoolchildren are routinely required to submit to physical examinations
and vaccinations against disease. Securing order in the school environment
sometimes requires that students be subjected to greater controls than
those appropriate for adults."

In the Oklahoma case, the tests were designed to check only for illegal
drugs such as marijuana or cocaine, but not alcohol. Those who tested
positive were required to meet with school officials. The results were not
turned over to police.

Thomas was joined by Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justices Antonin
Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer.

In dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, joined by Justices John Paul
Stevens, Sandra Day O'Connor and David Souter, wrote that "the particular
testing program upheld today is not reasonable, it is capricious, even
perverse: (It) targets for testing a student population least likely to be
at risk for illicit drugs and their damaging effects."

In the Wahkiakum case in this state, the two families sued the small,
Southwestern Washington district for requiring student athletes at the
district's high school to take random drug tests. The case is the first to
challenge such a policy in Washington schools.

The school district started the searches in part because anonymous surveys
filled out by students convinced administrators that the school had a drug
problem, said Superintendent Bob Garrett.

The district thinks the state constitution allows such searches the same
way it allows county courthouses to use metal detectors, said Fred Johnson,
Wahkiakum County prosecuting attorney, who is representing the district.

The school district's interest in deterring drug use "outweighs the minimal
intrusion in students' right to privacy," Johnson said.

But the plaintiffs, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union,
maintain that random student drug tests are degrading, ineffective and
unconstitutional in Washington, which they say is stricter than the federal
government regarding searching individuals without cause.

That's why Washington, unlike other states, doesn't allow sobriety
checkpoints, where drivers can be stopped at random to see if they're
driving under the influence, said Jeff Fisher, an attorney for Davis Wright
Tremaine, who is working with the ACLU on behalf of the plaintiffs.

The plaintiffs also point to a 1985 case in which the state Supreme Court
ruled that the Renton School District couldn't search a student's luggage
before a band trip without a suspicion that the student was breaking a law
or school rule.

They have asked the Washington Supreme Court to review their case.

Wahkiakum is among a handful of Washington districts to consider or require
random drug tests.

The Northshore School District debated instituting the tests in 1997 at the
request of several parents, but eventually decided against it.

Eric Barnum, Northshore director of student services, said he doubted the
district would try to revive the program anytime soon.

The Blaine School District in Whatcom County also considered it.

Granite Falls, in Snohomish County, randomly tested athletes and
cheerleaders in the 1997-98 school year, but then stopped.

"It was very popular with some students and parents, but others questioned
its constitutionality, which led us to drop it," said district spokeswoman
Kathy Grant.

Tahola, a tiny district of 220 students in Grays Harbor County, has had
volunteer drug testing for athletes for at least six years.

Burlington-Edison School District in Skagit County has required tests for
students involved in sports or extracurricular activities since 1997, and
hasn't faced a legal challenge.

"We're very pleased with the decision of the (U.S.) Supreme Court," said
Jim Clem, Burlington-Edison High's athletic director.

The drug tests, he said, are "a great method to help kids and families make
good choices," he said.

"It just gives kids one more reason to just say no."

Last year, Burlington-Edison High tested 626 of its 1,020 students. Six
tested positive for drug use.

The penalties range from 30-day probation to a permanent ban from activities.

The Wahkiakum School District modeled its policy after Burlington-Edison's,
although it chose to test only athletes.

In the year that Wahkiakum required tests, it also had only a handful of
positive results.

"We maintain that because the policy was in place, kids made better
choices," said Superintendent Garrett.

Some districts oppose random drug testing.

"Philosophically, we believe the presumption of guilt in assuming that
students are using drugs is wrong," said Snoqualmie School District
Superintendent Rich McCullough.

The ACLU stresses that it doesn't want to prevent schools from helping
students stay off drugs, but thinks random tests aren't the right way to do it.

"Every available study demonstrates that the single-best way to prevent
drug use among students is to engage them in extracurricular activities,"
said Graham Boyd, director of the national ACLU's Drug Policy Litigation
Project.

But, for now, school districts in many states have a green light to add
drug testing to their efforts to discourage drug use.

"Until today, the ACLU has been able to hold out the threat of a lawsuit
and scare school boards out of implementing drug testing," Rep. John
Peterson, R-Pa., said yesterday.

"With this Supreme Court decision ... school boards across the country can
begin to make our schools safer for every child."