House approves school drug searches; students continue fight

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 20, 2006
CONTACT: Tom Angell - (202) 293-4414 or (202) 557-4979 or tom [at] ssdp.org

U.S. House Votes to Expand School Drug Searches

Controversial Bill Skips Committee, Passes Floor on Voice Vote

Students and Educators Keep Watchful Eye on Senate

WASHINGTON, DC - Yesterday the U.S. House of Representatives passed by
voice vote a bill that could lead to more wide-scale drug searches in
public schools across the country, ignoring opposition from the National
PTA, the American Federation of Teachers, the National Association of
School Administrators, and the National School Boards Association.
Despite the bill's controversial nature, House leaders skipped the
committee deliberation process and brought the bill directly to the
floor, effectively giving its sponsor, Rep. Geoff Davis (R-KY), a
victory to tout during his difficult reelection bid this November.

"Thousands of students flooded Capitol Hill with phone calls and letters
this week," said Kris Krane, executive director of Students for Sensible
Drug Policy. "But for some reason, the Democrats let an embattled
Republican score political points by attacking students' rights, and
they didn't even ask for a roll call vote. It's shameful that both
parties put election year politics before students' and educators'
concerns by refusing to go on the record."

The bill, "The Student and Teacher Safety Act of 2006," H.R. 5295,
mandates that school districts adopt written policies allowing expanded
searches, under threat of losing federal anti-drug funding. Because the
bill skipped the committee process to come to the floor, Democrats could
have defeated it with just 1/3 of present members voting against it.

There is not yet a Senate version of the bill, but if enacted into law,
it would allow schools to search large groups of students on the mere
suspicion that just one of them has drugs. Similar justification
allowed police officers to storm a high school in Goose Creek, SC, in
2003, forcing dozens of students to the ground and pointing loaded guns
directly at their faces during a widely-criticized raid in which no
drugs were found. The school's principal resigned, and the school
district and the police department paid over one million dollars in a
lawsuit settlement this July.

The original version of the bill invented a new looser class of evidence
required to justify searches, called "colorable suspicion," but due to
lobbying by SSDP and others, the language was scaled back to stricter
"reasonable suspicion" in the version that passed the House yesterday.

More information about the bill, video of the 2003 Goose Creek raid, and
statements against the bill from prominent education groups, are
available on SSDP's blog at http://www.DAREgeneration.com

Students for Sensible Drug Policy is an international grassroots network
of students who are concerned about the impact drug abuse has on our
communities, but who also know that the War on Drugs is failing our
generation and our society. SSDP mobilizes and empowers young people to
participate in the political process, pushing for sensible policies to
achieve a safer and more just future, while fighting back against
counterproductive Drug War policies, particularly those that directly
harm students and youth.

# # #

Tom Angell, Campaigns Director
Students for Sensible Drug Policy
1623 Connecticut Ave NW; Suite 300
Washington, DC 20009
phone: (202) 293-4414
cell: (202) 557-4979
fax: (202) 293-8344
http://www.SchoolsNotPrisons.com
AIM: ThisIsTomAngell

Just Say Know! SSDP's conference is Nov. 17-19 in Washington, DC.
Register today at http://www.ssdp.org/conference

Sponsor a student activist! Every contribution to our Conference
Scholarship Fund will be matched by a generous donor. Help a student
attend the conference at http://www.ssdp.org/conference/sponsor

Get the latest news and DARE Generation views at
http://DAREgeneration.blogspot.com
--