Girl sues over school drug tests
The Lancaster County child was ousted from choir. She and parents refused the screening.
LANCASTER - A middle-school student is suing her district over a random drug-testing policy required for her participation in choir and other activities.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania said Wednesday it filed the lawsuit against the Solanco School District in Lancaster County on behalf of the Swift Middle School sixth grader and her parents.
The lawsuit argues the policy violates privacy rights under the state constitution and seeks to have a county judge prevent the district from enforcing it.
The policy "singles out only students who are involved in school activities and parking privileges without tying that participation to an increased risk of danger from drug use, or to a greater likelihood of drug use," the lawsuit said.
District officials do not have enough information about the lawsuit to comment, spokesman Keith Kaufman said.
The girl, 11, identified by her initials in the complaint, was removed from the orchestra and chorus, and is ineligible to participate in athletic or academic teams, because she and her parents will not consent to having her urine screened by school officials on a suspicionless, random basis, the lawsuit said.
A 2003 state Supreme Court ruling declared a student drug-testing program unconstitutional because school officials could not show other evidence that the targeted students had a high rate of drug use, the ACLU said.