The Courts

Texas Second Court of Appeals (Fort Worth)
ISD had Final Word in Student’s Discipline
Over Alleged Pot Found in Car on School Lot
Ruling: The “zero tolerance” disciplinary sanction that an ISD assessed a high school student after what was believed to be marijuana was found in her car at school is final, and therefore the suit filed by her parents must be dismissed. Northwest ISD v. K.R. and B.R., individually and as Parents and Next Friends of C.R., a Minor Child., No. 02-20-00067-CV. Issued Aug. 20.

The parents of NWISD Eaton High School student C.R. sued the district after the ISD invoked its zero tolerance policies to kick C.R. off the drill team and assign her to a disciplinary alternative education program (DAEP) after a canine-assisted search turned up purported marijuana underneath the back seat of the car she had driven to school.

The suit claimed that the district violated C.R.’s due process and other constitutional rights by not considering mitigating circumstances that the family said would have shown that C.R. lacked the intent to bring drugs to school and that she didn’t know the purported marijuana was in the car because:
  • The family bought the car from an individual two months before the search, and that “the most likely explanation for this material being under the back seat of the vehicle was that it was there when they purchased it.”

    They also said they had not cleaned the interior of the car after they bought it.

  • C.R. had a clean prior student disciplinary record.

  • A drug test C.R. took the day after the search came back negative.

NWISD appealed to the Second Court after the trial judge refused to dismiss the suit, and instead issued a temporary injunction preventing the district from carrying out its planned disciplinary measures against C.R.

A three-member Second Court panel, in this decision, unanimously sided with NWISD and ordered the suit dismissed on findings that the parents did not plead “viable constitutional claims.”

The justices also cited applicable state law and prior court decisions that stipulate:
  • Students do not have a fundamental right to participate in extracurricular activities and

  • Texas school boards are the final decision makers in assigning students to non-expulsion DAEPs for possessing, using, or being under the influence of drugs at school.