Imagine School at North Port wants to drug test students 6th grade and above starting the next school year, according to the Herald-Tribune.
The students would be required to pass a drug test to attend the school and pass one random drug test every year to stay enrolled.
If students test positive, they would be referred to drug counseling and those who continuously test positive would be removed from the school.
Critics say that kind of blanket drug testing violates students' fourth amendment rights against unreasonable searches.
Sarasota County school board attorney Art Hardy says for that reason, the Sarasota district didn’t want to consider amending its charter to allow the drug testing.
According to the Herald-Tribune, another charter school, Sarasota Military Academy, drug tests all its students and has been for eight years.
Hardy says that’s likely because all students at that Academy participate in an extra-curricular military program.
Two U.S. Supreme Court rulings have permitted some Florida school districts to drug test athletes and other students in extracurricular activities, but not all students.
To read more on the issue, click here.
