Pubdate: Thu, 23 Nov 2000
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2000 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053
Fax: (213) 237-7679
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
Forum: http://www.latimes.com/discuss/
Author: Rene Amy
Note: Rene Amy  is a parent - activist and a onetime candidate for the
Pasadena Board of Education.

DOPE-SENSITIVE DOGS SNIFF OUT PROBLEMS IN SCHOOLS BEFORE THEY START

If you could virtually eliminate the threat of drugs, alcohol,
explosives and guns from our local public school campuses, would you
do it? If you could do it without touching the money intended for
educational programs, would that make your decision easier?

Would it help to know that one of the key players was chosen as one of
the most popular individuals in Santa Monica last year? If you were
able to choose the same program used by many private schools in the
area, and recognized as effective by state and federal agencies, would
you really have to make a choice?

Probably not, if you're a parent of a child in our schools. It would
probably be a no-brainer.

But, if you're a member of the Pasadena Unified School District Board
of Education, the answer's still up in the air.

Incredible as it may seem, in spite of overwhelming evidence of the
Detection Canine deterrence program, some members of the PUSD board
are waffling.

As an example of the program's effectiveness, Pasadena High School,
one of two schools to pilot the program last year, told parents in the
school newsletter that drug-related incidents declined 43% as a result
of the program.

Principal Ben Ramirez told the school board at its last meeting that
his school has seen a tenfold increase in incidents this year without
the dogs.

Dogs? In our schools? Dogs and kids? Yup, but not the kind that might
come to mind. While many think law enforcement and dogs necessarily
means big, possibly vicious German shepherd K-9s, the dogs used in
schools are hearth rug poster pooches.

Bandit, a golden retriever, made Santa Monica's "Our Times" list of
most popular folks in that city for his work at Venice High School.
Last year, he made the rounds of PHS and Washington Middle School,
sniffing the air with a nose 1,000 times more sensitive than any human's.

While Bandit and dogs like him have been specially trained to find
controlled substances and gunpowder, the goal of the program is to
keep the dogs sniffing, and coming up empty-pawed.

Once students know that the dogs may come to campus at any time, and
check anywhere -- perhaps even every day for a week straight -- these
kids know that school is not the place to bring these things. During a
schoolwide presentation before the random visits actually start,
children and their parents are shown the dog's truly amazing olfactory
abilities, smelling the alcohol in an unopened beer can, or a joint
through six plastic bags.

Suddenly, kids know that if they bring the stuff, no matter how well
hidden, they run a very real risk of getting caught, and punished.

Though some may try to downplay the intelligence of those who would do
dope, they're smart enough to realize that bringing contraband to
school is dumb, given that the dogs might come at any time.

Private schools in the area use the detection dogs to ease the minds
of parents who've paid to ensure that their children get a quality
education.

Maranatha High School, LaSalle High School and St. Francis High School
are among those that have found that the program, which costs about $1
per student per year, is a cost-effective way to keep their campuses
safe, and their students clean.

Public schools get an even better deal, since the federal government
picks up the entire tab for the program, through drug-intervention
program grants.

With all these pluses, how could anyone not want to see the program in
our schools? Some have a misplaced view that the dogs are an invasion
of privacy, impinging on students' rights.

What those who feel that way may not realize, or choose to forget, is
that schools are legally required to operate "in loco parentis" -- in
the place of the parent, taking all reasonable precautions to ensure
the safety of students, just as if the students were their own
children. Just as a parent may search a child's room, so
administrators may (and do) search a student's locker.

Sniffing the air in hallways, or the air around backpacks and seats in
an empty classroom, but never sniffing a student, is much less
invasive and has been proven much more effective.

With 82% of students polled by administrators at PHS in favor of
continuing and expanding the detection program districtwide; with
other schools queuing up to request the program at their site; and
with administrators at other sites in favor of having the dogs at
their schools; those making the decision about the future of this
program should carefully consider the reasons a high school in
Colorado signed up the dogs after reopening last year. It was a school
that thought it didn't have any drug or violence problems.
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MAP posted-by: Derek