Childhood and Adolescence in Society by CQ Researcher C. Q.;

Author:CQ Researcher, C. Q.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1598326
Publisher: SAGE Publications, Incorporated
Published: 2011-01-07T00:00:00+00:00

Student Speech Cannot Promote Illegal Drug Use

The Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision in Morse v. Frederick (2007) upheld schools’ power to punish students for advocating or promoting illegal drug use. Joseph Frederick, a high school student in Alaska, had been suspended for displaying off school grounds a banner reading “Bong Hits 4 Jesus.”

Do schools’ anti-drug enforcement policies violate students’ rights?

Parents in the small north Texas town of Lockney raised alarms in fall 1998 when authorities indicted 11 people for cocaine dealing. Even though none of the suspects was a student, the Lockney school board responded by instituting a program of mandatory drug testing for students in grades six through 12.

Out of 400 families, Larry and Traci Tannahill were the only parents to object to the testing program. On behalf of their then 12-year-old son Bradley, they sued the school district in federal court in Lubbock and won a court ruling in March 2001 barring the program as an unconstitutional invasion of students’ rights against unreasonable searches. Judge Sam Cummings ruled the district had shown no special need for what he called an “intrusive” policy.8

Drug testing is one of the flash points between public school educators on one hand and student-rights advocates on the other. In Lockney, school officials — on advice of counsel — decided not to appeal the ruling. Instead, they trimmed the testing policy to apply only to students engaged in extracurricular activities. A year later, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a similar drug testing policy adopted by a school district in Oklahoma.9

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