The Ashland School District (#5) is a public school district that serves the city of Ashland, Oregon, United States. As of 2009, there were approximately 3,000 students and 300 employees in the district.[1]
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In the 2009 school year, the district had 62 students classified as homeless by the Department of Education, or 2.1% of students in the district.[2]
In late 2001, Ashland School Board enacted a controversial drug and alcohol policy for leadership students. The local Oregon chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union had advocated on behalf of various students expelled by the Ashland School District for drug use in May 2001 at a national forensics tournament and rallied again to protect the students from an unconstitutional invasion of their privacy. This landmark battle for students' rights was the first of many similar incidents across the country.
Students at Ashland High School argued that their off-campus behavior after school hours should have no effect on their academic standing. In a statement to the local press, Ashland High School Student Body Co-President Brady Brim-DeForest said "Teaching kids not to use and abuse drugs and alcohol is a family thing. Ultimately, it's a student's own personal choice."
Eventually, the code of conduct was rewritten and the controversy led to a full scale re-evaluation of the school district's entire drug and alcohol policy. In order to reach consensus however, a community committee was formed, which met consecutively for five months.