SEATTLE, Washington - May 24, 2011 - Every student at Lake Washington High School's June 4 senior prom would be tested for alcohol consumption under a plan in the works by school officials - departing from the school's past practice of testing only students who showed signs of alcohol use.
"At every dance this year, there have been issues with students drinking," said Kathryn Reith, spokeswoman for the Lake Washington School District. "The principal wanted to make sure that at the prom, there was more of a deterrence."
Reith said Lake Washington Principal Christina Thomas has informed students that everyone at the prom will be tested for alcohol, but that the specific method of testing hasn't been decided.
Although school district officials say they haven't heard any objection to the change, Doug Honig, spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Washington, said the policy sounds similar to "blanket searches" that courts have ruled against in the past.
"Our view is that public schools shouldn't be searching or testing their students without any indication or suspicion that a student is doing something wrong," Honig said."A blanket policy that treats every student as a suspect is not a good civics lesson in our society."
In 2008, the Washington Supreme Court struck down a southwest Washington school district's policy of random drug testing of student athletes, which was conducted without suspicion of a specific offense.
But Reith said the new policy at Lake Washington, to test everyone at an event, is similar to one used for several years at Redmond High School, in the same school district.
In Redmond, officials at dances or athletic events have used a "passive alcohol sensor." All arriving students are asked to say "hello" into the device, which analyzes their breath and lights up if alcohol is detected.
Another test method Lake Washington might use involves test strips that analyze a person's saliva and indicate if alcohol is present. At least one distributor of the test strips advocates on its website that the strips could work well at school proms, particularly in cases in which alcohol use is suspected.
If alcohol is detected on a prospective prom-goer, Reith said, the matter likely would be handled by a "school resource officer" - a law-enforcement representative - for the appropriate disciplinary action.
"All our schools struggle with the issue of how do we keep our students safe," Reith said.
Ed. Note: Yes, you keep your students safe by treating them like property and depriving them of their unalienable rights to be free. Personally, it’s not worth the safety. “Those who give up liberty for a temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."