New York Court of Appeals
In the Matter of Patchogue-Medford Congress of Teachers v. Board of Education of the Patchogue-Medford Union Free…
June 9, 198770 N.Y.2d 57
Summary
The New York Court of Appeals affirmed the Appellate Division, holding that the school district's policy requiring mandatory urinalysis of probationary teachers without reasonable suspicion violates both the New York State Constitution (art I, § 12) and the United States Constitution (Fourth Amendment). The Court reasoned that such testing is a search that intrudes upon a reasonable expectation of privacy and therefore must be justified by at least reasonable suspicion. A concurring opinion agreed with the federal holding but criticized the majority's reliance on State constitutional grounds.