Prom season is upon us and with that inevitably comes concerns over underage drinking. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Reports that a whopping 60% of all fatal traffic accidents occur during prom season, KOMO news reports.
Washington High School, apparently aware of this, is considering having each student submit to a breathalyzer test to get into his or her prom celebration.
Kathryn Reith, a spokesperson for the Lake Washington School District, contends that this is not good for students, and may be illegal. She does add however that Lake Washington High School has had alcohol related incidents at all of its school dances this year.
The ACLU says that this proposed action is an invasion of the student’s privacy, and is in violation of the Washington’s State Constitution. The issue here is that everyone will be tested as if they are a suspect, without regard to whether the student has done anything wrong. ACLU spokesperson Doug Honig says he is not opposed to testing if there is probable cause.
Interestingly, Washington High School is not the first to conduct across the board sobriety testing of its students. Redmond High School tests each of its students without probable cause for admission into sporting events and dances.
While there are U.S. Supreme Court decisions to support this action, the Washington State Supreme Court may not agree. Honig has cited two Washington Supreme Court rulings that state schools must have probable cause to put a student through a sobriety test.
After KOMO reported this story May 24th subsequent reports have come in from unconfirmed sources indicating that Lake Washington High School has consulted district lawyers and will require “reasonable suspicion” prior to testing students. Reasonable suspicion in the court system is the smallest amount of evidence required for a police officer to briefly detain a citizen for questions. It is short of probable cause, which is required to arrest someone.