Pubdate: Sun, 05 Mar 2006 Source: Rutland Herald (VT) Copyright: 2006 Rutland Herald Contact: http://www.rutlandherald.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/892 Author: Andrew Mckeever Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) ACADEMY K-9 POLICY SUPPORTED, SO FAR MANCHESTER -- Reaction to a new policy that sanctions K-9 patrols of school grounds to deter drug use has been largely positive, officials at Burr and Burton Academy say. Headmaster Charles W. Scranton said there has been overwhelming support for the patrols despite the potentially controversial step taken by the school last month to authorize police dog searches for illegal drugs and related paraphernalia. "We expected there would be people that would question the rationale," he said. "Like any other policy we might look at it again six months down the road and see what adjustments might be necessary, but for now we're going ahead." At a public forum held at the school Feb. 8, questions were raised by some of the nearly 200 people who attended about the need for the new policy and the way it was developed. But they were outnumbered by those who thought the measure sent a message to both students and the community that the school was serious about cracking down on illicit drug and alcohol use. "Just the acknowledgement that there is a problem is important," said Phyllis Tarbell, the executive director of the Dorset Nursing Association. "When people don't acknowledge there's a problem it supports that happening again." But while dissenting voices are in the minority for the moment, the support is not unanimous. Bradley Myerson, a local attorney, says school officials developed and adopted the new policy behind closed doors without hard evidence to support such a radical change. "I don't think they needed the dog sniff policy," he said. "If the administration knows who is dealing or using drugs at school, they can take appropriate steps." Burr and Burton -- an independent high school that enrolls about 700 students -- can suspend a student for at 10 days for a first violation of its "zero tolerance" drug policy. A second violation can merit expulsion, according to school policies. So far, one student has been expelled and six suspended, Myerson said. But that doesn't mean the school doesn't have a substance abuse problem, Scranton said. In the 2005 Vermont Youth Risk Behavior Survey, Burr and Burton's students reported using illicit drugs and alcohol at or above the rates consumed by students around the state. Approximately 24 percent of BBA students reported consuming five or more alcoholic drinks within a couple of hours, compared to the statewide results of 21 percent. About 44 percent of BBA students said they had tried marijuana at least once, compared to 37 percent of high school students statewide, according to the 2005 data. While the new K-9 policy is designed to search randomly selected areas of the campus, and not students directly, there is no guarantee that students might never be the target of a dog patrol, and that gets into a delicate legal area, he said. "Under the U.S. Constitution a dog sniff is not a search, but under the Vermont state constitution it could be," he said. "If a kid is arrested or charged as a result of a dog sniff, that could be the forum for challenging the dog sniff." Before announcing the K-9 policy, BBA sought a legal opinion from Rutland attorney William Meub, who concluded the school was well within its legal authority to conduct K-9 patrols on its campus. There is not a lot of legal precedent in Vermont on what constitutes an unreasonable search. But Meub says privacy rights at a school aren't the same as they are at home. The K-9 patrol is not targeted at specific individuals, he said. "As long as it's random, it's proper and not unreasonable," he said. "The way it's laid out we don't think it's a problem." Public schools are also well within their rights to use dogs as part of an anti-drug campaign, and school officials in Bennington considered K-9 patrols in 2003, said Wesley Knapp, the Superintendent of the Southwest Vermont Supervisory Union, which includes Mt. Anthony Union High School. So far they haven't, he said. "There are no laws or regulations that would prevent that," Knapp said. But the policy still strikes others as an overreaction. Phyllis Kaplan, a parent of a BBA freshman, said it seemed at little "heavy handed." Kaplan praised the school for communicating well with parents and the community, but she said she hoped the debate over the policy isn't over. "I hope the administration and the trustees revisit the policy to see if their objectives have been met within six months or a year, and if not, re-open the discussion." - --- MAP posted-by: Tom