ACLU Says Md. County Schools Agree to Drop Drug Testing August 21, 2000
News Summary
Facing a lawsuit over an incident where 19 high-school students were forced to take drug tests on a school auditorium stage in front of their classmates, officials in Talbot County, Md., have agreed to drop their drug-testing program and pay damages to the students involved, according to a press release from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).Instead of conducting urine tests when students are suspected of drug use, the school will now notify parents of their suspicions. The parents can then decide if a drug test is warranted.
Easton High School officials conducted the public drug tests in January, based on allegations that the students tested had been at a party where drugs were being used. The students were pulled from their classrooms during final exams and ordered to take the drug tests or be suspended or expelled, the ACLU said.
"To the ACLU's knowledge, none of the tests conducted was actually positive -- although at least one test initially was misconstrued as a positive result by school officials, and another was erroneously classified as inconclusive," the press release said. "The student whose test was misconstrued as positive was immediately suspended from school and sports activities, publicly chastened by school officials, paraded through the halls and escorted from the campus by security guards. An independent test conducted the next day by a certified laboratory showed the student to be negative for illegal drugs."
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