<p>Alright to make a long story short here’s what happened:</p>
<p>After coming back from memorial day weekend, one of my friends that I knew almost died down there (turned out to be alcohol poisoning). Me and two others were the ones who found him passed out and called the ambulance. Fast forward to school, the SAC calls me down, and tells me that she heard reports of him using coke and e (hearsay IIRC. Any law students wanna confirm this?) and that he was being drug tested. They said I needed to be as well. I knew this wasn’t legal seeing as how the statute in new jersey says one can be administered only if the student is thought to be under the influence of drugs. Both times I was 100% sober as all of my teachers, students, and peers can attest too. The first test they gave me i passed.</p>
<p>Anyway, yesterday I get called down 7th period. They tell me that some girl I was seen “together” (what the **** does that mean?) with was presumed to be high because she looked tired and her eyes were red, and therefore I needed to be drug tested again. I was just tested 6 days ago, naturally I said no. </p>
<p>The reason this is a problem is the following:
They wont allow me back in school because of my refusal. However, upon reviewing all the statutes, not only did they not have reasonable suspicion based on new jersey standards, but no where in the statute does it say a student can be excluded, medically or not, from attending school for refusing to take a test. My principal tried to say it was “medical exclusion”, but before I could rebut my brash mother decided to explode in a fit of rage and just leave. </p>
<li><p>Finals are coming up in like a week and a half and the last thing I need is this ****ing with me.</p></li>
<li><p>They suspended me for insubordination after the first test because I flipped out on my principle (and rightly so seeing as how they not only duped my mom into making me get a test, but I passed and had therefore been removed from school for no reason). </p></li>
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<p>The obvious answer I guess is to take the test again, but this pattern I have seen in other students, and the more they are allowed to tread over the students rights, the more often they single out those students or their associates.</p>
<p>Now I know they have no basis to test me on, my lawyer has already drafted a letter, so anyone else have any other advice to tell me while I’m waiting that might facilitate the process of me returning to school?</p>
<p>I have to say that makes me a bit angry just from reading it. </p>
<p>I think the best thing to do is to bite your tongue when you're about to flip out again (I'd be doing a lot of that if I were in your position) and listen to your lawyer; from now on you can't afford to make any mistakes that would damage your case.</p>
<p>You really just need to stand up for yourself and simply explain to your principle the New jersey law with a copy in hand. Clearly it is wrong what they are doing and you should not take the test. Schools cannot use probable cause as a reason to test you. They must have physical evidence. It is not illegal to be around someone who is high and if you show no symptoms you should not be tested. In my school we had a similar situation and ended up making the administration look like fools for their wrong doings. This problem was never an issue again. </p>
<p>Students have rights too. Just make sure the law is clear and there is no way they should make you take the test. </p>
<p>Be sure that you can also get all of your make up work that you would have missed because of the suspension.</p>
<p>These actions by authority figures just outrages me. Sorry if it seems like a rant.</p>
<p>I'm not trying to be an ahole, but just because a single student like you somehow "over rules" their principal's decision does not mean that student's rights across the nation will be improved. If you truly did not take any drugs, then just take the drug test. This way you can take your finals and not fail any classes.</p>
<p>^^ I don't think the point was to improve students' rights across the nation. Justice is justice. I say stand by what you think is right. (Wow, that is so preachy I just might vomit on myself.)</p>
<p>If you are convinced that you have the law on your side and decide to stand your ground, you need to be unfailingly polite while doing so. Being polite does not mean giving in to the school's demands, rather it means speaking in conversational tones, not making threats or calling names, not storming out of the office, slamming doors or that sort of thing. If you are particularly good at this, you can convey utter contempt for someone while giving them no grounds at all to accuse you of insubordination. I do not suggest taking things that far, particularly so if you are not about to graduate and get out of the clutches of these folks. </p>
<p>It sounds like both you and your mom have some problems controlling anger when dealing with the school. That plays right into their hands. It might be best to have that lawyer do the talking for you. Your goal should be to have all record of this suspension removed from you record so that you do not have to tell any college admissions officers about it. Meanwhile, keep up with as much of the work as you can by asking the school (politely) to send you the work and assignments you have been missing.</p>
<p>Thanks bassdad, and yes we shouldn't have gotten angry, but it wasn't something unprovoked nor was it initiated by us. The principle was the one who kept asserting we were wrong but refusing to show us a copy of the handbook in which he could verify his claims. This was also compounded by the fact that the situation that created all of this had nothing to do with me. Once he continued to try to overtalk us and refused to show us policy is when the yelling ensued.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, you might want to pick your battles, because you have finals coming up. The school knows that. This kind of bullying behavior on the part of a school gets me really angry. Principals and other school staff should be required to show what rules have been broken and what the designated consequences are. Otherwise they have free reign, and use it. We just had to drop a situation in which my D was treated very unfairly--with a drop in her grade-- because we did not want to make her senior year a living hell at the school. One question, how was the school aware of something that happened down the shore, and why would they get involved in it if it was not on school grounds or on a school trip? And how on earth could they require that you be tested on the basis that 'someone said' that you were hanging out with a girl who 'looked high'? That is outrageous. That seems to be a real abuse of power.</p>