Take Action: Tell Congress To Oppose Unreasonable School Searches

Take Action: Tell Congress To Oppose Unreasonable School Searches

Dear Friend,

I've got good news and bad news.

The good news is that when Students for Sensible Drug Policy asked
you to take action against the deceptively named "Student and Teacher
Safety Act of 2006," our supporters came through in a big way. 1,646
of you sent letters to Congress demanding that students'
constitutional right to privacy be protected from the expansion of
locker and backpack searches in middle and high schools.

Legislators took note of your overwhelming response and scaled back
some of the bill's scariest language. Now, instead of inventing a
whole new looser justification for student searches ("colorable
suspicion"), the bill requires stricter "reasonable suspicion."

But the bad news is that the new broadly worded bill would still
allow school officials to search dozens or even hundreds of students
based on the mere suspicion that one student brought drugs to school.
This kind of justification allowed police officers to storm a high
school in Goose Creek, SC, in 2003, forcing dozens of students to the
ground and pointing guns directly at their faces during a misguided
raid in which no drugs were found.

But the news gets worse: The bill could come to a vote on the House
floor as soon as this week! To help us stop this bill in its tracks,
please send a letter to your member of Congress right now by visiting

http://capwiz.com/mobilize/issues/alert/?alertid=8779706&type=CO

The sponsor of the new offensive school searches bill, Rep. Geoff
Davis (R-KY), is facing a tough reelection battle this November and
has convinced the House leadership to take up the bill so he can tell
his constituents he's done something in Washington, DC. Congressional
leaders are circumventing the democratic process and are bringing
this bill directly to the House floor, completely skipping committee
debate and approval. The silver lining is that because of this
procedural move, the bill needs a 2/3 vote in order to pass, so we
have a real chance to stop it - but we can only do so if you take
action immediately.

We expect a vote as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday of this week, so we
need you to take action now to stop this bill in its tracks and make
sure there's never another horrific incident like the one in Goose Creek.

Please send a letter to your member of Congress right away by visiting

http://capwiz.com/mobilize/issues/alert/?alertid=8779706&type=CO

If you have an extra two minutes, please call your member of Congress
and ask him or her to vote against the school searches bill when it
comes to the House floor this week. If you don't know who your House
representative is, simply call the Capitol Switchboard at (202)
224-3121 and give them your address. They'll connect you directly
with your representative's office. When you get a staffer on the
phone, politely say something like:

"My name is [your name] and I live in [your city]. I'm calling to
urge [the congressman/the congresswoman] to vote against the
deceptively named 'Student and Teacher Safety Act' when it comes to
the floor this week. The bill would allow schools and police to
invasively search large groups of innocent students based on the mere
suspicion that just one of them has drugs. I hope [the
congressman/the congresswoman] will respect young people's dignity by
voting against H.R. 5295. Thank you."

When you're done, please forward this alert to your friends and
family. Without your help, we won't be able to ensure that there are
no more Goose Creeks.

And if you can afford it, please consider making a financial
contribution - large or small - to SSDP's efforts to beat back the
government's Drug War attacks on young people at http://www.ssdp.org/donate

Thanks for continuing to support SSDP. We'll continue to keep you
informed about our efforts to foster drug policies that respect and
protect young people.

Sincerely,

Kris Krane
Executive Director
Students for Sensible Drug Policy