Supreme Court Rejects District's Appeal Over Drug Testing

By Mark Walsh

Washington

The U.S. Supreme Court last week rejected the appeal of an Indiana school district that was seeking to revive its policy requiring that all students suspended for fighting submit to testing for drugs and alcohol.

A federal appeals court last year struck down the policy as an unjustified intrusion on the Fourth Amendment rights of students to be free from unreasonable searches.

The high court on March 22 declined without comment to review the appeal in Anderson Community School Corp. v. Willis (Case No. 98-1183). It was the second case involving drug testing of students that the court has refused to review in its current term. Last fall, the court let stand an appeals court ruling that upheld the Rush County, Ind., district's policy of requiring students in all extracurricular activities to submit to random drug testing. ( "Supreme Court Lets Stand Rulings on Drug Tests, Teaching Materials," ...