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Thursday, August 17, 2000
Lockney board revises school drug policy
Student is suing district, saying rules criminalize innocent kids
By Pam Easton
Associated Press
LOCKNEY - The Lockney Independent School District has revised its mandatory drug testing policy in an effort to come to a compromise with a father who sued the district, saying the policy violated his son's constitutional rights.
"Sometimes you implement a policy and look back at it and say this should have been done this way," Lockney Superintendent Raymond Lusk said Wednesday.
The revision is a change of course from a board decision in March. The panel then decided not to act on a request from the American Civil Liberties Union to eliminate or refine the policy.
"The purpose of this is to settle this (issue) because we have a lot more important things to do as far as the educational process," the superintendent said. "We want (our students) in school, not sitting in some alternate discipline."
The policy originally required all students in the 6th through 12th grades to submit to drug testing. Failure to agree to the testing resulted in the same punishment as if a student had tested positive for drugs.
Changes approved July 13 now require testing of students in 7th through 12th grade and call for those who refuse to participate to be removed from extracurricular activities until they agree to participate.
When the original policy was implemented in February, 12-year-old Brady Tannahill was the sole holdout. His father, Larry, refused to sign the consent form saying it violated his son's right to privacy and that it criminalized innocent children.
That stand resulted in Brady being placed in 21-day suspension from extracurricular activities, at least three days' in-school suspension and three sessions of substance abuse counseling, as required by the original policy. It also required Brady to submit to a monthly drug test for a year and stated that each time he refused, he would be considered a repeat offender, and the punishment would get more strict.
School board attorney Donald Henslee doesn't anticipate the changes will have any effect on the lawsuit.
Lusk doesn't anticipate many in this farming community of 2,243 will be pleased with the board's decision to change the policy.
In March, hundreds of citizens turned out to support the policy. Many in attendance wore red and white T-shirts that said, "We asked for it. LISD delivered it. We appreciate it."
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