LAWSUIT CHALLENGES DRUG TESTING OF ATHLETES AT DUBLIN HIGH SCHOOLS

The Dublin school district's policy of drug-testing athletes is
unconstitutional, alleges a federal lawsuit filed this week by the American
Civil Liberties Union.

The testing, conducted the past two years at Dublin's two high schools,
violates the athlete's civil rights and rights of due process and equal
protection of the law, according to the suit filed Tuesday in U.S. District
Court in Columbus.

The suit was filed by the Ohio chapter of the ACLU for a Dublin Scioto
junior and his mother, both of whom were not named.

The Dublin Board of Education approved the policy 16 months ago. It
requires all students who participate in interscholastic sports at Scioto
and Dublin Coffman high schools to take a drug test at the beginning of
each sport season.

In addition, up to 10 percent of student-athletes can be tested at random
every week, under the regulation.

The tests screen for up to 13 substances, including alcohol, amphetamines,
barbiturates, LSD, marijuana and nicotine.

There is no punishment for an athlete who fails a test the first time.
Punishment gets more severe until the fourth failure, when an athlete can
be kicked off a team for the entire season.

The suit contends that student- athletes are tested even though they are
not suspected of being drug users. The random drug testing of all
student-athletes without probable cause or any other "individualized
suspicion constitutes an unconstitutional search of a person,'' the suit
alleges.

The school board took its action even though there was no "demonstrated
history of drug use among Dublin high-school students,'' the suit adds.

In fact, only two of 1,006 students tested positive for drugs when
screenings were administered last fall, the suit says. Only four of 1,231
students tested positive this fall, the suit adds. The six students who
tested positive showed traces of marijuana, the suit says.

The defendants are Dublin City Schools and its the board of education,
Superintendent Sharon Zimmers, Dublin Coffman Principal Steven Best and
Dublin Scioto Principal Marina Davis.

Richard J. Caster, executive director of administrative services for Dublin
schools, said yesterday officials will not comment on the suit until their
attorneys review it.

Similar drug-test policies have been instituted at several other school
districts in central Ohio, as well as nationwide.

"It's a controversial issue,'' Caster said. Several courts have upheld the
constitutionality of such policies and other courts have ruled them
illegal, he said.