Pubdate: Fri, 23 Sep 2011
Source: Record Searchlight (Redding, CA)
Copyright: 2011 Record Searchlight
Contact:  http://www.redding.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/360
Author: John Dalton
Note: John Dalton and his daughter Brittany, an Enterprise High 
School graduate, were plaintiffs in the ACLU lawsuit against the 
Shasta Union High School District's drug-testing policy.

DISTRICT STILL WON'T ADMIT IT WAS WRONG

The Shasta Union High School District refuses to admit that it was 
wrong to require that students who participate in a number of school 
activities take a drug test.

The district has now dropped its policy of random, suspicionless drug 
testing for students in competitive activities like marching band, 
math club, and mock trial, after three years of litigation with the 
American Civil Liberties Union. But if the district can't see the 
error of its ways, how we can be sure it has learned a lesson about 
following the law?

This is personal for my family. My daughter Brittany refused to 
submit to a drug test. We both felt that forcing her to urinate in a 
cup while a stranger listens from the other side of the stall is a 
complete violation of her privacy. We offered to have her tested 
privately at an off-site facility. The district wouldn't accept that.

Brittany was a dedicated musician throughout high school, but because 
she wouldn't take the drug test at school, the district tried to stop 
her from playing with her flute ensemble at a prestigious statewide 
competition.

Just days before the competition, a judge ruled that the district's 
policy was wrong, in large part because there was absolutely no 
evidence to support the district's claims that suspicionless drug 
testing does anything to reduce student drug use. Brittany was 
allowed to play in the competition and the ensemble won the gold medal.

That wasn't good enough for the district, and it appealed that 
ruling. A second judge, who is now the chief justice of the 
California Supreme Court, also said the district's policy broke the 
law. That seems like a pretty trustworthy opinion. The two other 
appeals court judges who heard the case agreed.

Throughout the lawsuit, the district was not even able to convince a 
single judge in two courts that the policy would be effective at 
preventing drug use.

I'm a parent, so I understand concerns about drug use, and making 
sure that our kids are safe and healthy. I also believe it's 
important, for schools especially, to set an example about ways to 
solve complex problems.

What kind of example does it set when a school district breaks the 
law, and then won't admit that it has done wrong? What's more, 
shouldn't school district resources - our taxpayer dollars - be spent 
addressing drug use with things that work?

It's time the school district admit that, although intentions may 
have been in the right place, it was wrong to make students like my 
daughter take a drug test just so they could play in the marching band.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart