Lake Stevens Says Yes to Random Drug Testing

Per this from the Seattle Times:

Details of a drug-testing program set to begin in the fall at Lake Stevens High School will be discussed from 4 to 7 p.m. June 15 at district headquarters, 12309 22nd St. N.E.

The School Board last month directed Burgess to develop and implement a random drug-testing program for students involved in sports and other after-school activities.

Lake Stevens would become the first Snohomish County school to implement random student drug tests.

The American Civil Liberties Union is suing two other Washington school districts over similar programs, saying they violate state constitutional guarantees of privacy. Those cases have not yet been heard by the courts.

The other two districts that the ACLU is suing are Cle Elum and Wahkiakum (see here), which should give pause to other districts like Almira/Coulee-Hartline, which links proudly to its drug testing policy right off of their front page.

I'm completely with the ACLU on this. We should try to combat drug abuse in the schools, but suspicionless searches as a condition for being in the band, or on the Knowledge Bowl team, or playing a sport...that's too much. It's a basic matter of dignity.