Pubdate: Tue, 21 Mar 2006
Source: Marin Independent Journal (CA)
Copyright: 2006 Marin Independent Journal
Contact:  http://www.marinij.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/673
Author: Don Speich
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?237 (Drug Dogs)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States)

SCHOOL BOARD IN DOG HOUSE

Faced with threats of lawsuits, a recall election and the passionate 
denunciation of two leading civil-rights groups, trustees of the 
Sausalito Marin City School District voted Monday night to suspend a 
policy calling for drug-sniffing dogs at Martin Luther King Jr.  Academy.

The board voted unanimously to suspend the policy for two months, 
during which time the policy, as well as alternatives, would be 
reviewed by parents, educators and civil-rights groups.

The board in November unanimously authorized the use of dogs at the 
Marin City middle school, which has 38 seventh- and eighth-graders. 
It was not until January, however, that parents were informed of the 
program, along with a notice that, in three days, dogs would be on campus.

On Jan. 23, the dogs were brought into MLK to meet the students. No 
inspections were performed and none have been since.

At Monday night's public hearing, attended by about 200 people at 
Bayside School in Sausalito, trustees were attacked repeatedly and 
heatedly by parents and students from Marin City as well as students 
and others from throughout Marin.

Terri Harris-Green, an MLK parent and a member of the Marin City 
Community Services District board, said, "I am outraged by your 
blatant disrespect of your parents.  You know dogs are not the 
answer. They will only add to the traumatization of the children."

After calling for the policy to be rescinded, she added: "I am so 
disappointed I don't know what to do. I don't know what we have to do 
to get your attention. Is it going to take us recalling you as a 
board? What is it going to take?"

Juniper Lesnik, spokeswoman for the American Civil Liberties Union's 
Northern California office in San Francisco, told the trustees, "This 
policy violates the constitutional rights of King Academy students 
and it is simply bad policy."

The ACLU has charged the program has violated the students' 
constitutional protection against illegal search and seizure.

The board's attorney said the policy was constitutional because no 
student would be "randomly" sniffed by the dogs.

Under the program, Interquest Detection Canines of Houston would 
perform monthly inspections at a cost of $2,500 at the middle school. 
Students would leave their classrooms and dogs would then sniff the 
classrooms in other parts of the school for evidence of drugs.

Originally, parents understood that children's personal belongings 
would be subject to inspections, but it remained unclear at the 
meeting just what in particular would be sniffed.

Dan Daniels, statewide director of the National Association for the 
Advancement of Colored People, said the "legality of the program will 
be taken up at another time," heavily implying a possible lawsuit.

"What now is being questioned is an ethical question," he said. "How 
do you justify dogs when there is no evidence of drugs?"

The trustees have repeatedly said they have no evidence of drugs at 
MLK but wanted the program to reassure themselves and the community 
that the school was drug-free.

Trustee Whitney Hoyt apologized to the audience for voting for a 
policy she hadn't examined. She said it had been included as part of 
a larger item on school safety.

"I can't remember ever having a discussion about it," she said. "I 
regret that I didn't read the policy at the time. That was my mistake." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake