Father
Appeals
Son's
Suspension
for
Refusing
Drug
Test
2/11/00
Twelve-year-old Brady Tannahill of Lockney, Texas is an A and B student who has never been in trouble in his life. His refusal to take a school-mandated drug test, however, has changed all of that. Now, as far as the school is concerned, he is a drug user and will be punished as such. Larry Tanahill, Brady's father, is appealing. The punishment, set by the school district, includes a 21-day suspension from all extracurricular activities, a minimum three-day suspension from school, and substance abuse counseling. Brady could also be required to take monthly drug tests for a year, with each refusal counting as a positive test, with increasing penalties. According to Graham Boyd of the ACLU's drug policy project, the Lockney school district is the only one in the nation requiring suspicionless testing of all students, grades 6-12. On Friday, Mr. Tanahill met with his son's principal to begin the appeal process. Brady will be able to attend school as usual for two weeks pending a hearing in front of the school board. Meanwhile, in Washington state, a legal challenge has been filed on behalf of two sets of parents in an attempt to strike down the suspicionless drug-testing requirement for students participating in extracurricular activities in the Wahkiakum School District. The parents, Hans and Katherine York and Sharon and Paul Schneider, object to both the policy's substance and message. "We object to the urine-testing policy as an unwarranted invasion of privacy," said Hans York, a deputy sheriff. "We want school to teach our children to think critically, not to police them." The Hans' are the parents of two students, a senior, who is a member of the national honor society, and a ninth grader. The Schneiders have a child in the ninth grade. Paul Schneider is a medical doctor who has served as a medical review officer in a drug rehabilitation context. The Week Online will keep you up to date on both stories as they develop. To learn more about drug testing, visit the ACLU web site at http://www.aclu.org and do a "concept" search on "drug testing."
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