SURPRISE SWEEP AT ASHEVILLE HIGH NETS NO DRUGS

ASHEVILLE - Students were locked in their Asheville High School classrooms
as police moved through hallways with drug-sniffing dogs Tuesday in a
surprise drug sweep.

The dogs did not find any narcotics, but the school system's superintendent
said the sweep sent a message.

"Drugs are illegal, and as long as drugs are illegal, we will do everything
we can to keep them out of our schools," said Robert Logan, superintendent
of Asheville City Schools

Four Asheville City Schools school resource officers, administrators and
two senior managers from the Asheville Police Department joined the two
police K9 units during the search, which began at 8:30 a.m.

The dog teams searched all the school's common areas and halls, including
student lockers, and the school parking lots.

Students said they were not told that dogs were searching the school for drugs.

The teams did not go into classrooms and did not search individual students
or their personal belongings, such as backpacks inside lockers, Logan said.

The district's school board policy states that students and their
belongings cannot be randomly searched, unless there is "reasonable
suspicion that the student possess illegal, unauthorized or contraband
material on his/her person."

Legal questions might have arisen, however, if a student had been arrested
because drugs were found in his or her locker, said Anjuli Verma, a public
education coordinator at the American Civil Liberties Union's Drug Law
Reform Project. There would be no proof that the drugs were in fact the
student's.

"There are issues with drugs being planted," Verma said.

The ACLU has filed a lawsuit on behalf of 20 students from Goose Creek,
S.C., who were randomly searched by police at Stratford High School. Videos
showed police handcuffing students and holding guns to their heads while a
drug dog sniffed and tore at the students' book bags. No drugs or weapons
were found during the sweep and no charges were filed.

During the search at Asheville High School, the school was under what is
called a modified lockdown. Teachers continued with instruction, but
classroom doors were locked. Students were not allowed to leave their rooms
until the search was completed at 10 a.m.

Logan had advised the Asheville City Schools Board of Education at its
retreat last week that there would be a drug search, but he provided no
specific times or dates.

Captain Tom Aardema, commander of the APD's Criminal Investigation
Division, was present during the sweep.

"We were invited into the school and are happy to provide this service,"
Aardema said. "This is not a criminal investigation. This is all about
helping maintain a drug-free school environment."