SHOW AND TELL ON SCHOOL DRUG TESTING

Supreme Court Hears Arguments In Non-Athletic Activities Case

WASHINGTON -- Lindsay Earls was in her sophomore choir class at
Tecumseh High School in rural Oklahoma when a principal's assistant
burst into the room and called out her name and the names of several
other students. Report for drug testing, the assistant told the
students.

In a restroom, the girls were told to give urine samples in cups
while female teachers stood outside the stalls checking for any
cheating. When the girls finished, a faculty member examined each cup
to be sure the liquid was the right color and temperature.

Earls felt humiliated, and within a few months she and another
student and their parents filed a lawsuit to block the school's
policy of randomly testing students who participate in non-athletic
extracurricular activities. The students said the drug tests violated
their Fourth Amendment rights against unwarranted searches.

The case reached the Supreme Court Tuesday after lower courts
returned contradictory opinions about the Tecumseh policy. Justices
aggressively probed the arguments of opposing lawyers, but several
appeared to be on the side of the school board.

If the court rules in favor of the school's policy, schools will be
free to expand drug testing for students participating not just in
athletics but in non-athletic activities as well. The high court
allowed drug tests for student athletes in 1995. Wider testing is
relatively rare nationwide and is not being done in Connecticut,
state education officials said. Still, legal analysts said some
districts have been holding back because they were unsure how the
Supreme Court would rule.

Linda M. Meoli, an Oklahoma City lawyer representing the board of
education in Tecumseh, said she is not using the case to argue for
universal student drug testing. But, she added, "If we could fashion
a way to do it, I believe a majority of school boards would be behind
it."

Earls' lawyer, Graham A. Boyd, from the New Haven-based Drug Policy
Litigation Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, argued that
Tecumseh officials had not proved there was danger of a rampant drug
problem at the school. Justice Antonin Scalia brushed that argument
aside, saying: "The danger is getting young people used to a drug
culture."

Several other justices indicated that the goal of reducing drug use
in the schools could outweigh any loss of privacy students experience
by being required to submit to the tests.

If schools believe they are drug-free, they are entitled to keep it
that way, said Justice Anthony M. Kennedy. And Justice Stephen G.
Breyer said the Tecumseh policy amounts to only a "slight expansion"
of the drug testing the court allowed in the 7-year-old decision
involving student athletes.

Justices David H. Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg were the most
outspoken in challenging the Tecumseh policy.

After hearing Meoli contend that the tests deter students from using
drugs, Souter said: "It seems to me if we took your argument ...
there is an equally good argument for testing everyone in the school."

And Ginsburg dismissed an argument that most students already are
aware of - and thus not offended by - current drug testing. "People
who are just ordinary people aren't," Ginsburg protested.

The Tecumseh case began in 1998, when the school board responded to
persistent local concerns about drug abuse. Initially, the board
planned to test only athletes but expanded the testing so athletes
would not feel singled out.

Earls, described as a serious student who rarely if ever dated, was
tested in early 1999, a few months after the policy went into effect.
The test showed she had not used drugs. Eight months later she and
another student, Daniel James, and their parents approached the
American Civil Liberties Union, which took up the case. A federal
district court agreed with the board of education; the U.S. 10th
Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 for Earls.

While Earls had the option of dropping out of the extracurricular
activities to avoid testing, Boyd argued in court papers that she
needed to participate to improve her chances of getting into college.
She is now a freshman at Dartmouth College. In any case, Boyd said,
there is no evidence of drug use among students who participate in
extracurricular activities.

Outside the Supreme Court Tuesday, Earls said: "I was pleased with
everything I heard. I'm not doing drugs, so I shouldn't have to prove
I'm innocent."