Wider student drug tests considered by court

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court agreed Thursday to decide whether schools may give drug tests to nearly any student involved in after-school activities, from the chess club to cheerleading, without evidence of a drug problem.

Critics say such broad testing is unconstitutional and a step toward universal screening. Supporters say it is necessary in the face of drug use by young people.

"I felt they were accusing us and convicting us before they had given us a chance," said Lindsey Earls, who sang in her high school choir and participated on an academic quiz team when testing began in Tecumseh, Okla.

Only children involved in competitive extracurricular activities were tested on the theory that by voluntarily representing the school, they had opened themselves to greater scrutiny than other students.

"The board did perceive that there was a drug problem among the students, and wanted to help ... give students a reason to say no," said Stephanie Mather, a lawyer for the school. "It was a deterrent. A student could say, 'I want to participate in this band competition, so I'm not going to do that."'

Beyond sports

The Supreme Court ruling, expected by summer, could answer a question lingering from a major 1995 case, when the court said a school with a pervasive drug problem could subject student athletes to drug tests.

In that 6-3 decision, the court did not address schoolwide testing, or extracurricular activities apart from athletics. It is not clear whether an answer in this case would apply to all extracurricular activities, or only to competitive pursuits.

The National School Boards Association has no estimate for the number of children involved in extracurricular activities nationally, but the Oklahoma school said it assumed its policy would cover a large percentage of students.

The case involves a decision by the board of education in rural Tecumseh, 40 miles from Oklahoma City, to begin "suspicionless" drug testing in the fall of 1998.

The board had considered testing all students in the school district, but settled for the smaller program in light of previous court challenges elsewhere. The school acknowledges that students involved in such activities as band and the pompom team are not more likely than others to be involved with drugs, and has said there was no severe drug problem in the school.

"It was not where the problem was, but where they thought they could, in essence, legally get away with doing the testing," said Graham Boyd, the American Civil Liberties Union lawyer handling the case.