Drug Testing in Schools

1
Drug Testing in Schools

• Pat McCloskey
• School Law
• April 10, 2006

2
Issues

• Does drug testing students in public schools
  violate their 4th Amendment rights?
• Are student-athletes subject to more strict
  testing protocols than other students?
• What must schools prove in order to drug test
  students in middle and high schools?

3
Reasons for Testing

• Observed increase in student drug use and
  disciplinary problems.
• Increased risk of sport-related injuries.
• Athletes and those engaging in extracurricular
  activities are seen as the leaders in the
  student culture. Thus, are usually at the head of
  any drug use in schools.

4
Reasons not to test

• Violation of 4th Amendment rights.
• Singles-out athletes and those participating in
  extracurricular activities (choir, band, clubs)
  from the rest of the population.
• Is there a current visible problem in the schools?

5
Fourth Amendment

• The right of the people to be secure in their
  persons, houses, papers, and effects, against
  unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be
  violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon
  probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation,
  and particularly describing the place to be
  searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

6
Vernonia S.D. vs. Wayne ActonSupreme Court of
the U.S. June 26, 1995

• Decision
• The drug testing policy did not violate the
  students 4th amend. right.
• Student drug problems, especially with
  student-athletes, was severe enough cause to
  address the problem with testing.
• This type of search was relatively unobtrusive
  and the severity of the need was met by the
  search.

7
Board of Education of Pottawatomie Cty. vs.
EarlsSupreme Court June 27, 2002

• Decision
• The drug testing policy reasonably served the
  school districts interest in detecting and
  preventing drug use.
• Does not violate 4th amend. Because
• The students affected had a limited expectation
  of privacy, as they volunteer for those
  activities.
• Non intrusive testing procedure, the invasion of
  privacy was not significant.
• School district provided evidence of the need.

8
Conclusion

• Drug testing in schools does not violate 4th
  amendment rights because
• The concern for deterring drug use by the
  nation's school children is important and perhaps
  compelling.
• School years are a time when the physical,
  psychological, and addictive effects of drugs are
  most severe.
• The effects of a drug-infested school are visited
  upon the entire student body and faculty, as the
  educational process is disrupted.
• The state has taken a special responsibility of
  care and direction, and the risk of immediate
  physical harm to a drug-using athlete or to those
  with whom the athlete is playing the athlete's
  sport is particularly high.