The San Benito High School District Board of Trustees voted
recently to prohibit drug-sniffing dogs from searching classrooms,
although dogs could continue to be used to search lockers and
parking lots.
Hollister – The San Benito High School District Board of Trustees voted recently to prohibit drug-sniffing dogs from searching classrooms, although dogs could continue to be used to search lockers and parking lots.
The action, taken last Wednesday, prompted district officials to consider scrapping the entire campus canine program.
In past years, the dogs had been used four times a year to search parking lots and lockers for drugs and other contraband. But after a 3-2 vote against a proposed extension of the policy to include classroom searches, Principal Debbie Padilla told the board she would not contract with the private, Modesto-based company, Kontraband Interdiction and Detection Services (K.I.D.S.), for the service.
Whether the dogs search classrooms or not, the company’s $340 charge per visit would have stayed the same, Padilla said.
“We’re not looking at renewing the full contract if we can’t use the company’s full services,” she said Monday. “It clarifies the board’s philosophy and means I have to look at other ways to keep drugs off campus.”
Board members had raised several legal questions and privacy concerns in previous discussions regarding Padilla’s recommendation that the dogs be allowed to search individual classrooms. Padilla had told the board that the searches would not be effective if the dogs were prohibited from searching classrooms because students can carry contraband such as drugs, alcohol, bombs and firearms on their persons. Padilla said the dogs would have been a deterrent to bringing drugs on campus.
Superintendent Jean Burns Slater believes that the high school campus will remain safe, even without the searches. Dogs alerted district officials to several students last year after detecting the odor of drugs. Later, officials were able to determine that those students had been asked to hold on to drugs by fellow classmates, Slater said. Searching individual classrooms would have prevented such cases, she said.
“We know that there are drugs on campus,” Slater said. “And we wanted to be in a very proactive state.”
Padilla and other staff members will consider adding more drug prevention curriculum to ninth grade health classes and working with outside groups such as Narcotics Anonymous to raise students’ awareness about the dangers of drug use.
Senior Stefany James, the students’ liaison to the Board of Trustees, believes the board made the right decision.
“It was my feeling that (classroom searches) would not have been conducive to a friendly environment between staff and students,” she said. “I have never felt unsafe on campus, but for those who do, there are many ways we can be proactive instead of using scare tactics.”
James suggested the district look into drug prevention efforts such as creating support groups on campus, forming a student government task force and helping more students get involved in school activities.
Trustee Evelyn Muro, one of two trustees who supported the proposed policy, said the dogs were needed in order to make sure the high school campus was safe.
“I believe the number one thing is that we have a safe school,” she said Monday. “To just say we are going to do drug education is not enough. You can’t teach if the staff and students don’t feel safe.”
Having the dogs search classrooms would not have guaranteed that the campus would be drug-free, but Muro said it could have helped.
Brett Rowland covers education for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or
br******@fr***********.com
