DRUG-TESTING DECISION POSTPONED

Responding to legal questions raised, the Mathews County School Board
decided this week to put off a decision on a voluntary drug testing program
for high school students.

A committee of administrators, parents and students who designed the
program presented it to the board in January. The board had planned to
consider it as early as this week.

However, an inquiry from the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia
persuaded the school system to take the proposal off the School Board
agenda until certain legal questions are addressed.

Under the proposal, students who agree to submit to random drug tests would
receive rewards such as free parking and free admission to school events.
The ACLU opposes the program, arguing that students who decline to
participate would be unfairly stigmatized for exercising their
constitutional rights.

The School Board will wait for a U.S. Supreme Court case on high school
drug testing scheduled to be heard in March. That case could provide
guidance for the Mathews County proposal, said Dr. Georg T. Kidd, the
assistant superintendent.

"We wanted the additional information from the Supreme Court case so that
we'd have better information as a committee on whether we could expect
litigation," Kidd said.

Last week, the local panel, called the Drug Screening Committee, asked the
board not to put the proposal back on its agenda until after the case is
heard. The committee was formed last year at the impetus of a parent who
was PTA president when her son, a high school football player, was caught
smoking marijuana.

Earlier this month, the ACLU requested information on the committee's
activities under the Freedom of Information Act. The school system complied
with the request, said Kent Willis, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia.

The ACLU believes that rewarding students for participating in the drug
testing program would amount to discriminating against those who don't.

"Our argument would be that, in essence, the failure to reward students who
don't participate amounts to punishing students for not participating,"
Willis said.

Under the Mathews County proposal, students who don't submit to the drug
testing could be suspected as users, he said.

The Supreme Court case that Mathews County and the ACLU will monitor hails
from Oklahoma, Willis said. The case challenges a high school's authority
to demand drug tests for students involved in competitive extracurricular
activities - even if there is no evidence of drug abuse, he said.