Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Purpose

School superintendents are charged with maintaining the safety and security of the schools in their district. One major recognized threat to the security and safety of students and staff is the use of illegal drugs. Superintendents are responding to the constitutionality of student drug-testing policies by implementing drug-testing programs. Are superintendents implementing drug-testing policies in response to recent court decisions that have allowed for the preemployment and the suspicionless drug testing of teachers?

Population

Superintendents nationwide were randomly selected for the study.

Research Design

A mixed methodology was used to address the following questions: (1) Have school districts adopted a mandatory drug-testing policy, either preemployment or suspicionless, for teachers? (2) Do superintendents support a mandatory drug-testing policy, either preemployment or suspicionless, for teachers? (3) Do superintendents have differentiated support for preemployment and suspicionless drug-testing policies for teachers? Legal analysis was used to map the applicable court cases and constitutional ground that forms the foundation of drug testing. Quantitative analysis was used on the 144 returned surveys. The third part of the methodology was an analysis of short-answer questions using quasi-qualitative methods.

Conclusions

This study found that superintendents believe that they have the authority, without offending the Constitution, to implement teacher preemployment and suspicionless drug-testing policies. However, in large part, they are not implementing such policies. The responding superintendents have a greater comfort level with preemployment testing than suspicionless drug testing of teachers. Most superintendents believed that the drug problem among teachers was not large enough to warrant action, but many reserved the right to revisit the implementation of such policies if the circumstances in their school district changed.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Board of Education of Independent School District No. 92 of Pottawatomie County v. Earl, 536 U.S. 822 (2002). Burnham v. West, 681 F. Supp. 1160 (E.D. Va. 1987).

Camara v. Municipal Court, 387 U.S. 523 (1967). Crager v. Board of Education of Knott County, 313 F. Supp. 2d 690 (E.D. Ky. 2004).

DeMitchell

T. A.

(1993). Private lives: Community control vs. professional autonomy. Education Law Reporter, 78, 187—197.

DeMitchell

T. A.

(2002). The duty to protect: Blackstone's doctrine of In Loco Parentis. A lens for viewing the sexual abuse of students. Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal, 2002(1), 17—52.

DeMitchell

T. A.

, and Carroll

(1997). Mandatory drug testing of student athletes: A policy response to Vernonia School District, 47J v. Acton. Journal of School Leadership, 7, 50—68.

DeMitchell

T. A.

, Carroll

, and Schram

(2006). Student drug testing policies: The superintendent and the courts. Education Law Reporter, 206, 1—26.

DeMitchell

T. A.

, and Cobb

C. D.

(2003). Policy responses to violence in our schools: An exploration of security as a fundamental value. Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal, 2003(2), 459—484.

Fulmer

J. R.

(2002). Dismissing the “immoral” teacher for conduct outside the workplace: Do current laws protect the interests of both school authorities and teachers? Journal of Law and Education, 31, 271—289.

Glaser

B. G.

(1978). Theoretical sensitivity. Mill Valley, CA: Sociology Press.

10.

Kingdon

J. W.

(1995). Agendas, alternatives, and public policies (2nd ed.). New York: HarperCollins.

11.

Knox County Education Association v. Knox County Board of Education, 158 F.3d 361 (6th Cir. 1998), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 812 (1999).

12.

National Center for Education Statistics. (2005). Common core of data. Retrieved June 5, 2005, from http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/address.asp National Treasury Employees Union v. Von Raab, 489 U.S. 656 (1989).

13.

New Jersey v. T.L.O. 469 U.S. 325 (1985).

14.

O'Connor v. Ortega, 480 U.S. 709 (1987).

15.

Orr

(2000) The Knox v. Knox decision and drug testing for public school employees: Why educators do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate. Journal of Law and Education, 29, 547—552.

16.

Phaneuf v. Fraikin, 448 F.3d 591 (2d Cir. 2006).

17.

Roberts

, and Fossey

(2004). Searches and seizures in the school workplace: Where does the teacher stand? Education Law Reporter, 192, 1—14.

18.

Schimmel

(Ed.). (1996). Research that makes a difference: Complementary methods for examining legal issues in education. Topeka, KS: National Organization on Legal Problems of Education.

19.

Schmidt

(2001). Suspicionless drug urinalysis of public school teachers: The concern for student safety cannot outweigh teachers’ legitimate privacy interests. Columbia Journal of Law and Social Problems, 34, 253—281.

20.

Schram

(November 5, 2005). E-mail communication concerning the method of analyzing short answer data. Shaul v. Cherry Valley-Springfield Central School District, 363 F.3d 177 (2d Cir. 2004).

21.

Skinner v. Railway Labor Executives Association, 489 U.S. 602 (1989).

22.

Stefkovich

J. A.

, and Torres

M. A.

Jr. . (2003). The demographics of justice: Student searches, student rights, and administrator practices. Educational Administration Quarterly, 39, 259—282.

23.

Strauss

A. L.

(1987). Qualitative analysis for social scientists. New York: Cambridge University Press.

24.

Urdan

(2001). Statistics in plain English. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

25.

Vernonia School District 47J v. Acton, 515 U.S. 646 (1995).

26.

Wirt

F. M.

, and Kirst

M. W.

(1997). The political dynamics of American education. Berkeley, CA: McCutchan.

To Test or Not to Test? Drug Testing Teachers: The View of the Superintendent

Abstract

Purpose

Population

Research Design

Conclusions

Get full access to this article

References