Joye v. Hunterdon Cent. High Sch.

• Decision Date: 09 July 2003
• Citation: 826 A.2d 624,176 N.J. 568
• Parties: Michael and Deborah JOYE, on behalf of themselves and their minor child, Shaun Joye; Phil and Joan Greiner, on behalf of themselves and their minor child, Melissa Greiner; Mark and Linda Zdepski, on behalf of themselves and their minor child, Anna Zdepski, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. HUNTERDON CENTRAL REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL BOARD OF EDUCATION and Acting Superintendent of Schools, Judith Gray, in her official capacity, Defendants-Respondents.
• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court

826 A.2d 624

176 N.J. 568

Michael and Deborah JOYE, on behalf of themselves and their minor child, Shaun Joye; Phil and Joan Greiner, on behalf of themselves and their minor child, Melissa Greiner; Mark and Linda Zdepski, on behalf of themselves and their minor child, Anna Zdepski, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. HUNTERDON CENTRAL REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL BOARD OF EDUCATION and Acting Superintendent of Schools, Judith Gray, in her official capacity, Defendants-Respondents.

Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Argued February 19, 2003.

Decided July 9, 2003.

J.C. Salyer argued the cause for appellants (Mr. Salyer, Edward Barocas and Krovatin & Associates, attorneys; Mr. Salyer, Mr. Barocas and Ravinder S. Bhalla, on the briefs).

Kevin P. Kovacs argued the cause for respondents (Purcell, Ries, Shannon, Mulcahy & O'Neill, attorneys).

Donna M. Kaye, Senior Associate Counsel, submitted a letter in lieu of brief on behalf of amicus curiae New Jersey School Boards Association (Cynthia J. Jahn, General Counsel, attorney).

Michael O. Dermody submitted a brief on behalf of amici curiae Drug-Free Schools Coalition, Geraldine Silverman, Treasurer, New Jersey Federation for Drug-Free Communities, The Livingston Municipal Alliance, Dr. Eric Voth, Chairman, Institute for Global Drug Policy of the Drug-Free America Foundation, DeForest Rathbone, Chairman, National Institute of Citizen Anti-Drug Policy, Malcolm K. Beyer, Jr., Joyce Nalepka, Carolyn Burns, Mary Jo Green, Drug-Free Kids, America's Challenge, National Families in Action, Legal Foundation Against Illicit Drugs, Ginger and Larry Katz, Courage to Speak Foundation, Nancy Starr, Pennsylvania Delegate, Drug Watch International, Stephanie Haynes, Save our Society from Drugs, Kathleen A. Berry, Momstell Coalition, Philadelphia Chapter, Theresa Costello, Mother of Divine Grace Drug Awareness Program and Dawn Engel.

The opinion of the Court was delivered by VERNIERO, J.

We are called on to evaluate the constitutionality of a high school's random drug and alcohol testing program. The program applies to all students who participate in athletic and non-athletic extracurricular activities, or who possess school parking permits. Students who test positive for drug or alcohol use are suspended temporarily from those activities or must relinquish their parking permits. They also are required to receive counseling and to seek other treatment if necessary. They are not, however, prosecuted or otherwise exposed to criminal liability. The United States Supreme Court has upheld similar programs of other states, concluding that they do not offend the United States Constitution. We hold that the program before us does not violate the New Jersey Constitution.

Specifically, the school's substance-abuse problem has been documented by survey results showing that a third of the students in the upper grades have used illegal drugs and that forty percent of students in the same grades have been intoxicated within the survey's prior twelve-month period. Those results are consistent with other data, including information regarding three deaths due to heroin overdoses in municipalities within the school district, and consistent with testimony of counselors and other school personnel. Against that record, we reject the suggestion of our dissenting colleagues that the New Jersey Constitution requires school officials to wait for the problem to worsen before addressing it in the manner sought here.

In following the course charted by our federal counterpart, we do not signal a retreat from this Court's history of affording citizens enhanced protections under our State's constitution. The New Jersey Constitution remains a critical safeguard against unreasonable, unfair, and overbearing governmental action. The program before us, however, reflects no such conduct. Instead, it is consistent with existing law recognizing that students have a diminished expectation of privacy in a public-school context. Equally important, our law further provides that school officials are responsible for the children entrusted to their care. From that perspective, the program represents a rational attempt by those officials and by approving parents to address a documented problem of illegal drug and alcohol use affecting a sizable portion of the student population. The program is reasonable and, therefore, constitutional.

Finally, we do not share the dissent's apparent view that every public high school automatically will satisfy the special-needs test that we more fully describe below. Although some of the test's factors, such as the students' diminished expectation of privacy, are common to all schools, other factors, such as the scope of specific drug or alcohol use, might vary from school to school. We leave open the possibility that a future program will not pass constitutional muster either because the school's chosen method of specimen collection is overly intrusive in view of alternative methods, or because the underlying drug and alcohol use at the particular school simply is inadequate to justify it.

I.

We derive our summary of the essential facts largely from certifications and other information submitted to the trial court. The parties do not dispute those facts.

Hunterdon Central Regional High School (Hunterdon Central) is located in Flemington and provides secondary education to approximately 2,500 students enrolled in grades nine through twelve. Since 1987, school administrators have implemented several policies designed to deter students from using alcohol and illegal drugs, and to counsel students who are experiencing substance-abuse problems. The school provides drug-related awareness programs in individual classes and through larger student assemblies. In addition, it maintains a student assistance program (SAP) that employs three full-time professionals who counsel students and their families regarding drug and alcohol abuse. The school occasionally conducts searches of student lockers and so-called "dog-sniffing sweeps" in concert with the county prosecutor. Under a suspicion-based program in place since 1996, the school also tests individual students who are suspected of using illicit drugs or alcohol. The locker searches, dog-sniffing sweeps, and suspicion-based tests are not challenged in this appeal.

Lisa Brady is the school's principal. Brady submitted a certification in which she indicated that despite the above efforts, in 1997 administrators continued to have concerns "about the apparent presence of illegal drug and alcohol use by students." She explained that "[c]oaches, teachers and administrators reported anecdotally their concern about what they perceived to be a growing problem." The principal also reported that in 1997 she "personally became aware of two students snorting heroin on school premises." Results from the suspicion-based program appeared to corroborate the anecdotal reports. During the 1996-97 school year, the school tested thirty students for illegal drug use based on reasonable suspicion, twenty-seven (or ninety percent) of whom tested positive.

To assist it in better understanding the scope of the perceived problem, the Hunterdon Central Regional High School Board of Education (Board) retained the services of the Rocky Mountain Behavioral Science Institute, Inc. (RMBSI) of Fort Collins, Colorado. The Board commissioned the RMBSI to conduct a survey regarding "the nature and extent of illegal drug and alcohol use by Hunterdon Central students[.]" The survey consisted of a written questionnaire administered to students that took approximately thirty-five minutes to complete. On an anonymous basis, the survey questioned students about their history with drugs and alcohol, and the frequency and intensity of any current use. According to Brady, "the [s]chool was assured that the [s]urvey was scientifically reliable due to its built in controls to detect erroneous or exaggerated responses and its consistency checks."

The survey reveals that as of the 1996-97 school year, over thirty-three percent of Hunterdon Central's students between grades ten and twelve had used marijuana within the preceding twelve-month period. It also indicates that thirteen percent of seniors had tried cocaine; twelve percent of juniors had used hallucinogens; twelve percent of sophomores had tried stimulants; and twenty-one percent of freshmen had tried inhalants. Moreover, a substantial portion of the student body perceives that illegal drugs readily are available. As for alcohol, the study indicates that over forty percent of students between grades ten and twelve had "been drunk" within the twelve-month period prior to the survey, and over eighty-five percent of all students had tried alcohol.

Responding to those results and to "continual feedback from the school staff," the Board implemented its first random drug and alcohol testing program in July 1997. The Board confined the program to students who participated in interscholastic sports. The program required parents or guardians to consent to having their children subjected to random testing as a condition of participating in the school's athletic activities. Between 1998 and 2000, over 1,000 student athletes per school year became eligible for testing. Of that number, the school randomly tested approximately 100 student athletes a year. Less than five percent of those students tested positive for drug or alcohol use. (The exact number is not in the record. Brady indicated that because the number is so low, publishing it might reveal student identities, a circumstance that the school seeks to avoid consistent with confidentiality rules.)

Shortly after that initial program took effect, the Board held a public meeting at which David Evans, an expert on teen drug use and himself a parent of a Hunterdon Central student, responded to questions raised by students and their parents. At Evans' suggestion, the Board established a task force to "eval...