View Summary
BENSON ANABLE; LAURA BALCH; AND DAN PLESS, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS FATHER AND NEXT FRIEND OF MATTHEW PLESS, A MINOR, PLAINTIFFS
vs.
JAMES H. FORD, INDIVIDUALLY AND IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS SUPERINTENDENT OF THE ARKADELPHIA SCHOOL DISTRICT; AND MARY FRANCIS, KENNETH HARRIS, FLOYD MANNING, DON PENNINGTON, AND MICHAEL V. O'QUINN AS INDIVIDUALS AND IN THEIR OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS DIRECTORS OF THE ARKADELPHIA SCHOOL DISTRICT; AND THE ARKADELPHIA SCHOOL DISTRICT, DEFENDANTS
Click Here to Read the Full Case Summary
Issues:
Drug testing, policy and procedure, alcohol, due process, marijuana, evidence, reasonable suspicion, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments.
Case Summary:
Three students and their parents challenge the Arkadelphia school board's drug and alcohol policy. The school adopted a policy permitting blood, urine and breath alcohol and drug testing. The policy provided a variety consequences for violators, including expulsion with a loss of earned academic credits. Students Benson Anable and Laura Balch ran afoul of the policy in separate episodes and were disciplined by their high school principal. The parents of a third student, Dan Pless, challenged the policy on behalf their son. Dan Pless did not violate the policy, but told school officials he consumed alcohol from time to time to help him sleep. The suit challenged the policy's testing and discipline provisions. Balch also contended school officials violated her right to due process.
Decision of lower jurisdiction:
This is the first judicial review of this case.
Outcome:
A split decision. The U. S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, Hot Springs Division, enjoined the school board from using urine testing in its policy. The court ruled Pless lacked any standing to file suit against the school board. The court ruled Anable consented to be tested and indirectly accepted the subsequent discipline action that accompanied a positive test result. As to Balch's complaint, the court ruled Balch never consented to the drug test and that school officials lacked reasonable cause to perform a test on the student. The court awarded Balch $1 in nominal damages and $500 in compensatory damages.