TRI In The News

Student Seems 'Fine'; Bring on Breathalyzer

From WorldNetDaily
Original article available here.

A top-flight legal organization that focuses on civil and religious rights is warning a school district in Virginia to stop requiring students to take police-run breathalyzer tests without notifying their parents because such actions are "inexcusable" and a violation of the Fourth Amendment.

The dispute arose at Western Albemarle High School when school district officials, based on nothing more than the anonymous and unsupported complaint from two students, ordered a student to take the test.

The move prompted a letter from the Rutherford Institute, which advocates for students' civil rights, among other issues.

The letter requests that the school stop requiring students to take police-run breath tests because of the conflict between the procedure and the Fourth Amendment.

"We seek immediate resolution of the breathalyzer testing policy on behalf of Maggie Kooken and her family. Please respond to these concerns with due haste, on or before the close of business on Tuesday, April 26, 2011," said the letter from John W. Whitehead, president of the institute, to Superintendent Pamela Moran.

School district spokesman Maury Brown told WND that the district "has a duty to provide for the safety of students in our care" and "information related to a student possibly being under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol must be taken seriously by school officials."

Brown also contended Rutherford's letter doesn't represent the situation accurately.

"We have reviewed the administrator's actions and believe that he acted responsibly based on credible information reported to him," Brown said. The school has no "breathalyzer testing policy," he said.

According to Whitehead, the incident developed this way: Two unidentified students told a teacher that Maggie, a sophomore, had been drinking a mix of lemonade and alcohol at school. The teacher allegedly reported the accusation to Associate Principal Greg Domecq "without making any apparent efforts to corroborate it." Then Domecq observed Maggie at lunch and "saw no indications that she was drinking alcohol." In fact, he concluded, she "seemed fine." Nevertheless, Domecq allegedly took Maggie out of her class and escorted her to his office, where a police officer was waiting to administer the test.

The results revealed she had not been drinking.

"For school officials to have subjected Maggie Kooken to a police-administered breathalyzer test based only upon the questionable report by unidentified accusers and without the knowledge or consent of her parents is inexcusable and a violation of her Fourth Amendment Rights," the letter to Moran said.

"It is well-established that breathalyzer tests are 'searches' that implicate the Fourth Amendment's prohibition of unreasonable searches and seizures. Searches of students by school officials may be conducted only when officials have a reasonable basis for suspecting the student has violated some school rule," the letter to Moran said.

Further, such actions involve parental rights as well.

"The United States Supreme Court has noted that the interest of parents in 'the care, custody, and control of their children' may be the oldest fundamental liberty interest recognized by the court,'" the letter said.

"Given that Dr. Domecq was ignorant of the identities of the girls who accused Maggie of consuming alcohol and, thus, had no basis for deeming their accusation credible, coupled with his own personal observations of Maggie which belied the claim that she was using alcohol, it is clear that he did not have reasonable grounds for subjecting Maggie to the breathalyzer, especially given the lack of parental consent," the letter said.

The Rutherford Institute is seeking to have the tests stopped, and if the school wants such a policy, to ensure it passes constitutional muster. Third, the letter requests that evidence of the incident be removed from Maggie's records and the family receive an apology.

"It has been particularly traumatic for Maggie, a young person in a stage of life where peer pressure and public opinion can wreak havoc on one's self-worth and reputation," the letter said.

"Little attention seems to be paid to the impact on students who are taught that they have no rights and who are forced to submit to an all-powerful police state in which they are presumed guilty, as Maggie Kooken was," the letter said.