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Lawyers argue: Should disgraced student keep title? Judge considers case of Phoenix teen who lost presidency because of pot By Chris Bristol The attorney for a Phoenix High School student who was stripped of his student body president title for possession of marijuana urged a judge to reverse the decision because school rules did not set stricter standards for class officers. "The school district has no inherent authority to make up the rules after something�s happened ... when there�s no fair warning in writing," Ashland attorney Tom Howser argued Monday. But the school district�s attorney countered that higher courts have given educators broad discretion to discipline disruptive students as long as the punishment is rational and proportionate. "If that�s not (disruptive) behavior, I don�t know what is," Tim Gerking retorted. Jackson County Judge Phil Arnold on Monday heard oral arguments in the case, which came about when Bill Ferguson filed a lawsuit demanding a court order forcing the Phoenix-Talent School District to restore his son�s title. Father and son attended the hearing, along with 10 or 12 Phoenix High students who came to show support for their disgraced classmate. A half-dozen school officials and teachers also attended in a show of support for Superintendent Dave Willard. Keanon Ferguson, 17, was originally suspended for five days after he was caught in the school parking lot June 12 with a small amount of marijuana and a glass pipe in his pants pocket. A campus security officer who smelled marijuana smoke coming from the boy�s car also found a roach and roach clip in the car. The senior-to-be was also the student body president-elect, and the suspension was the standard punishment under the school�s drug policy. But over the summer, school officials decided to remove him from office. The school board later affirmed the decision. In court Monday, Howser argued the punishment violated the school�s own drug policy and student constitution � only students may recall a student body officer, he said � and that school officials exceeded their authority as conferred by the state Board of Higher Education. State law, Howser said, requires school officials to adopt rules governing student conduct in writing and that drug use should not be equated to the discretion administrators are given to root out violent or menacing behavior. "The school district could have a rule, but it doesn�t," Howser argued. "They have to publish rules and live by them." In response, Gerking accused Howser of "understating" the seriousness of Ferguson�s misconduct and said school officials have a duty enshrined by case law to provide students with a drug-free learning environment. Holding a student body position is a privilege, not a right, he said. Moreover, he said the school code of conduct would resemble a telephone book if school officials were required to predict every form of misbehavior and make a rule against it in writing. "It is impossible to dream up every conceivable behavior problem and potential problem," Gerking argued. The lawsuit is the second high-profile challenge of the school�s drug policy, both involving the Fergusons. Two years ago, the school threatened to suspend 31 students from athletics for attending a party at the Fergusons� Pioneer Road home in which a freshman drank too much alcohol and had to be hospitalized. School officials relented under pressure from angry parents, reducing the punishment to community service. Arnold refrained from making a snap decision Monday, saying instead he was taking the case under advisement and would issue a ruling "soon." Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA