Memorandum Opinion

The Kanawha County School Board adopted a revised drug testing policy mandating the random testing of teachers and other categories of public school employees.  The teachers’ unions have joined forces in this lawsuit seeking to enjoin the implementation of that policy on constitutional and privacy grounds.  The questions before the court are whether the random drug testing policy adopted by the Board as a state actor violates the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, Article III, § 6 of the West Virginia Constitution, and the right to privacy as it is recognized in this state.  The evidence does not demonstrate either that these employees have a reduced expectation of privacy by virtue of their employment in a public school or that there is a special governmental need to guard against a concrete risk of great harm.  I therefore find that because the safety justification offered by the Board does not outweigh the privacy interests of the school employees, the Board may not abandon the Fourth Amendment’s protection against suspicionless searches.  Consequently, the plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of their claims and I preliminarily enjoin the enforcement of the random drug testing policy.