Wayne and Judy ACTON, guardians ad litem for James Acton, Plaintiffs,.
The reason I choose this case, was because recently in my stepbrother's school, the school board has voted on random drug testing for athletes. This case was recently solved in the Supreme Court. The school district has been appeal the courts dissension, until March, 2002. The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the school board for drug testing athletes at random, during the playing season.
Vernonia, Oregon, was a quit town. This is a small town with approximately 3000 persons living within the school district. Up until the mid-to-late 1980s there had been no problems in the schools. There was the occasional fight and discipline problems, but nothing major. In the late 1980s, teachers began to see a difference in their students. This was a difference the teachers in Vernonia had never seen before. Randall Aultman, a teacher in the district for 15 years was ready to quit his job.
"Students began taking about drug use, glamorizing, talking about weekend parties, seeing who could consume the most alcohol, and had begun to use profanity word in school", states Aultman. Aultman was feed up, and had begun to talk to other teachers in the school. Aultman was not the first to notice this. Many other teachers were aware of the situation and wanted something done. .
The teachers began talking with parents and students that were "good" about what should be done. After holding many meeting on drug use and how to tell if you child was on drugs, teachers and parents thought that they were going to clean up the drug problem in the schools. After a year, nothing seems to be working. After holding a meeting with the school board, the board voted yes on athlete drug testing.
The way the drug testing works is that during the season students and parents sign a consent form. This allows students to be drug tested at school.