Poll: Should Students Be Tested for Drugs?

In his blog today, Bill Scheibe of Joliet Catholic Academy shares the success rate for the school’s drug testing program.

The school is the only one, according to Scheibe, with a mandatory drug testing policy in Will, Grundy, Kendall and DuPage counties.

At a time when say Chicago is the heroin capital of the nation and , we at Naperville Patch wondered how the community would react if drug testing was an option for students. 

Students typically have a diminished expectation of privacy in school, according to Steven Schwinn from the John Marshall Law School, who was interviewed by WBEZ last fall after a school district in Lake Zurich considered instituting drug testing for some students. The Supreme Court has previously ruled upon the use of urine samples, but not hair samples, which Joliet Catholic Academy uses and which was discussed in the Lake Zurich district.

The Supreme Court has ruled in cases in which schools used random drug testing of students involved in extracurricular activities, but warned against using drug testing in suspicionless situatations. 

So, keeping in mind their Fourth Amendment rights, do you believe students—at least those participating in extracurricular activities—should be tested for drugs in and 204?