CAMPUS DRUG CASES RISE WITH END TO DOG PROJECT

WAILUKU - Maui schools officials are urging that a pilot drug-sniffing
dog project be made permanent and operated at public schools
throughout the state, according to Board of Education Member Mary Cochran.

Cochran, the Neighbor Island representative from Maui, said Tuesday
morning from her board office on Oahu that she was heading to visit
Maui lawmakers to ask for support for a $300,000 appropriation to pay
for a statewide drug dog project.

Cochran's lobbying effort followed a presentation on Monday by Maui
District Complex Superintendent Ron Okamura, who oversees schools in
West Maui, on Lanai, on Molokai and in Hana.

Okamura told members of the Board of Education's Committee on Special
Programs that incidents of drug confiscation increased at schools
after a dog stopped randomly visiting the campuses to sniff for
illegal substances.

Last school year, Kalama Intermediate School in Makawao was the first
public school campus in the state with an agreement to allow random
searches on the campus by a dog trained to sniff out drugs, alcohol
and drug powder. The dog searches were limited to landscaping,
building exteriors and restrooms.

Student lockers and backpacks could not be checked by the dog under a
policy approved by the Department of Education.

The pilot project, operated by Whitney White, an Upcountry resident
and owner of Interquest Detection Canines of Hawaii, was funded
through private donations.

The state Department of Education approved pilot drug dog searches at
other Maui campuses including Lahainaluna High School and Lahaina
Intermediate School.

Kalama Principal John Costales said that the dog found drugs and
alcohol in four separate instances during last year's pilot.

In one case, a Kalama security officer had already found a container
of alcohol allegedly brought on campus by a student and disposed of
the liquid. The dog sniffed out the empty alcohol container in a trash
bin.

In other incidents, the dog found a bag of marijuana on the Kalama
campus, in the vicinity of a neighboring a community ball park, and a
partially burned marijuana joint in a plastic bag hidden in a hedge
bordering the school.

"I can't say it wasn't our kids," Costales said about the
cases.

But he said he believes that the drug-sniffing dog served as a
deterrent to students who may be abusing drugs. As a former teacher
and vice principal on the Kalama campus, Costales recalled a previous
year when more than 20 students were caught in possession of drugs and
alcohol on the campus.

Last year during the pilot project, Kalama recorded 12 incidents of
drug and alcohol possession. With half of the current school year
complete, the school already has dealt with more than 12 cases of
possession of illegal substances, according to Costales.

He said he supports making the drug-sniffing dog project a permanent
program to help steer students away from substance abuse.

"We believe our students are our greatest resource and we must do what
we can to support and protect them. . . . I think we need to use all
the tools available to us," Costales said.

Cochran said she's asked state schools Superintendent Pat Hamamoto to
explore the possibility of applying federal funds received by the
Department of Education to pay for the drug-sniffing dog program.
"This is not just a Maui thing," Cochran said. "We need to do this
statewide."

Cochran said the suggestion that money allocated for other programs in
the schools be reassigned to the drug-sniffing dog project is
"unacceptable."

She said new funds need to be found.

The American Civil Liberties Union has expressed opposition to drug
dog searches, saying it violates student privacy.