SUPREME COURT TO HEAR CASE ON DRUG TESTING IN SCHOOLS

Some Districts Require It For Band, Cheerleading, Choir

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court agreed Thursday to decide whether all high
school students who participate in extracurricular activities beyond sports
can be forced to undergo random drug tests.

A ruling on the issue, which can be expected by spring, should clarify how
far public school officials can go in requiring drug tests of students.

The justices have said students have lesser privacy rights than adults. Six
years ago, they upheld an Oregon school district's policy of testing school
athletes for drug use.

School officials in the small town of Vernonia, Ore., said they had a
serious drug problem. Athletes serve as role models and must be seen as
drug-free and, beyond that, young athletes would risk serious injury if
they were using drugs while playing sports, officials said.

For all these reasons, the Supreme Court approved the school's drug-testing
policy and rejected the claim that it violated the Fourth Amendment's ban
on unreasonable searches and seizures.

Since then, school officials in some communities have sought to extend
mandatory drug testing to all students who participate in extracurricular
activities.

In 1998, the Tecumseh School District in rural Oklahoma decided to require
random urine tests of high school students who participated in such
activities as band, choir, cheerleading and Future Farmers of America.

Their urine samples were checked for such illegal drugs as cocaine,
marijuana and amphetamines, but not alcohol. The local police were not told
of positive tests. Instead, students were counseled to quit using drugs.

Two students -- Lindsay Earls, who was in the choir, and Daniel James, who
was on the academic team -- challenged the policy as unconstitutional and
won before the U.S. Court of Appeals in Denver. But the Supreme Court voted
to take up the school district's appeal in the case.