Parents Sue Catholic School For Discrimination

Parents are suing Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights for discrimination after four African American students were expelled for testing positive for cocaine.

The parents claim that drug testing procedures conducted by the school contain racial bias, reported ABC 7.

It turns out that science may not be colorblind. Attorneys representing the group of parents allege that hair follicle drug testing can increase the likelihood of a false positive result if a person has coarse, dark hair. Furthermore, the school did not give the expelled students a chance to prove their innocence using independent testing.

“Other similarly-situated white students have been treated differently,” attorney Brendan Shiller told ABC 7. “Who have had an opportunity to do different types of testing and prove that these were false positives, and none of the black students, that we are aware of, have had that opportunity.

Attorneys for the students said that the four students tested negative for drugs by an independent lab, but were still expelled. At Marian Catholic High School, drug testing is mandatory for every student.

Now, lawyers claim the student’s reputations have been damaged, and their futures have been jeopardized.

“They’re devastated,” attorney Mary Grieb told ABC 7. “They’re embarrassed, some of their classmates are learning about this, and our concern, and part of the concern in filing the lawsuit is how it will affect them going forward with applying to colleges or transferring to other high schools.”

Marian Catholic did not respond to ABC 7’s request for comment. The Chicago Archdiocese told the station it would not comment on matters in litigation, but that drug testing policies are decided independently by the schools.