Pubdate: Sat, 23 Aug 2003
Source: Amarillo Globe-News (TX)
Copyright: 2003 Amarillo Globe-News
Contact:  http://amarillonet.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/13
Author: Jessica Raynor
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)

JUDGE RULES FOR SCHOOLS IN LAWSUIT 

TULIA - U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson of Amarillo ruled against a Tulia
man Friday in a lawsuit contesting the Tulia Independent School District's
drug-testing policy, according to court papers.

Alan Bean will have to pay the school's taxable costs in the 2001 case, which
was the second case challenging the district's policy of randomly testing
extracurricular students.

Robinson granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants, which included
the school district and Sam Sadler, president of the Tulia school board.
Summary judgment is a judgment made without trial.

"Obviously, we're disappointed," Bean said. But after the Supreme Court ruled
in 2002 that testing all extracurricular students was legal, he said he saw the
writing on the wall.

"We were at the point where we either retool our arguments from scratch or
yield to the inevitable," he said. Bean said he doesn't know if he'll appeal,
but hoped someone would come forward to continue fighting the district policy.

Ken Miller, Tulia schools superintendent, said he expected the court to rule in
the district's favor.

"We're happy that it's all said and done," Miller said. He said the district
continues to test extracurricular students from seventh through 12th grade.

Bean filed the lawsuit on behalf of his son Amos. It alleged the district's
policy violated Amos Bean's rights under the U.S. and Texas constitutions with
the suspicion-less drug testing of athletes.

Robinson found otherwise, stating in the summary judgment opinion that the
policy meets the standards of constitutionality.

She could not find proof to Bean's assertion that the policy was actually
suspicion-based and racially biased, according to court papers. She charged
that Bean did not bring enough evidence to support the claim.

The school district, on the other hand, did bring additional evidence
supporting the random, suspicion-less drug testing procedure the district
actually used, according to court papers.

Bean said Friday he wants to see a more detailed report showing the breakdown
of the racial and ethnic composition of students in extracurricular activities,
compared to the students who actually took the test.

"We used the evidence we had," he said. "I thought we made a strong case."

Bean also argued to the court his son was drug-tested after he revoked his
written consent to give the test. Robinson said in her opinion he showed no
evidence the consent was revoked or when the drug test was performed.

Miller said in his response to the lawsuit that he was unaware of any such drug
test.

Robinson also ruled Bean's claims for declaratory and injunctive relief became
moot upon his son's high school graduation in May.

The first lawsuit to contest Tulia's drug-testing policy, filed by Hollister
Gardner, was rejected on appeal.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk