cannabisnews.com: Decision Soon On Drug Policy 





Decision Soon On Drug Policy 
Posted by FoM on October 16, 1999 at 08:19:02 PT
By Ken Carlson, Bee Staff Writer
Source: Modesto Bee
Interested parties in Judge Sandra Smith's courtroom Friday had heard the arguments before.  The attorney for Manteca Unified School District begged the San Joaquin County Superior Court not to interfere with the enforcement of district drug policy. 
The attorney for East Union High School student Adam Zeiher said his client's punishment was unfair and should be overturned.  Smith promised a decision, possibly as early as next week.  In May, Zeiher and then Sierra High  School classmates Travis McPherson and David Perry were punished for allegedly smoking marijuana during a lunch break.  The students were suspended and received involuntary transfers to other high schools -- thus disqualifying the trio from athletics this year.  In a hearing attended by the families and school officials last month, Superior Court Judge K. Peter Saiers rescinded McPherson's punishment and ordered the district to clear his record.  The Zeiher family filed an almost identical lawsuit after the school board refused to reinstate Adam Zeiher and Perry.  The matter was assigned to Smith's courtroom when the school district exercised its right to have another judge hear the case.  Attorney Todd Goluba, representing the school district, said in court Friday that the previous court decision could handcuff district attempts to curb marijuana use among students.  The Zeiher's attorney, Thomas Driscoll, who also represented McPherson, rehashed his position in the previous case. He said the State Attorney General's Office decided two years ago that zero-tolerance drug policies imposed by some school districts were illegal.  Manteca Unified's revised policy -- allowing administrators to impose five-day class suspensions, a 45-day social suspension and involuntary transfer -- also is illegal, he said.  Transferring the students to other schools equates to expulsion, which historically requires an appeal hearing, Driscoll argued.  "What we have are administrators who claim they have authority they don't have," Driscoll said after Friday's hearing. "The reason we have this continued litigation is that administrators are aggressively defending their turf."   By KEN CARLSON BEE STAFF WRITER (Published: Saturday, October 16, 1999) Copyright © The Modesto Bee. Related Articles:Board Silent on Turnabout - 9/25/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3024.shtmlManteca Student Reinstated in Pot Case - 9/17/99 http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread2916.shtml 
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