The American Civil Liberties Union plans a legal challenge to a new contract that allows random drug testing of Hawai'i public school employees and is actively seeking people who want to be part of the lawsuit, the group announced yesterday.

ACLU leaders will begin touring the state later this month to meet with unionized public school employees who are subject to the tests under the terms of their new collective bargaining agreement.

The group is looking for teachers and others who want to be plaintiffs in the lawsuit that will challenge the testing program, said Lois Perrin, legal director of the ACLU of Hawai'i.

"Our education system is failing students by resorting to dragnet searches that do little to protect anyone while violating the rights of everyone," Perrin said.

The Hawai'i State Teachers Association and the state earlier this year agreed to a contract that would allow random drug testing of teachers, librarians and administrative workers in the public school system.

Union members narrowly approved the contract with the state. The policy is the first of its kind in the nation, the ACLU said.

"Hawai'i now has the dubious distinction of being the first state ever to subject its teachers to a blanket policy of random drug testing," said Graham Boyd, director of the ACLU Drug Law Reform Project, which will assist the state chapter in pursuing its lawsuit, which the group said it will file "soon" in federal court.

During the upcoming meetings, Boyd will make a formal presentation, "What Kind of Lessons Are Our Schools Teaching?" and discuss the upcoming lawsuit.

The schedule of meetings: