DRUG-SNIFFING DOGS TO BEGIN WORK IN SCHOOL

NARRAGANSETT -- Effective immediately, the Police Department will be using
drug-sniffing dogs in tandem with periodic lockdowns or
"sheltering-in-place" drills at Narragansett High School, Chief J. David
Smith told the School Committee last night.

"I'm hoping that -- in looking around at what really is a room that is
devoid of parents and students -- that deafening silence is one that really
is indicative of a show of support and satisfaction with what is now our
well-stated plan and intention to go forward with a relatively new concept
in Narragansett," Smith said.

Since going public with the planned random searches, Smith said he has not
received a single phone call of concern from a parent or student.

The searches are planned only for the high school, which has not had an
anti-terrorist lockdown so far this year.

Smith's report was the culmination of meetings with Supt. Pia M. Durkin,
the School Committee and high school administrators. The Police Department
does not need the School Committee's permission to conduct the searches.
Last night's announcement was a chance for Smith to answer questions and to
use the locally televised forum to notify the community about the coming
changes and why they are needed.

Already this school year, Smith said, one Narragansett high school student
has been arrested for possession of marijuana and three others were
suspended for allegedly smoking it on their way to school.

According to a recent survey conducted by the University of Rhode Island,
45 percent of Narragansett and Barrington High School students said someone
had tried to sell them drugs in school -- the highest rates in the state.

"They don't want to have to be intimidated by the prospect of somebody
approaching them and offering the sale of marijuana to them," Smith said.
"They don't want to see a friend selling it in the boys' room or the girls'
room. They don't want to see it being passed in the hallway. They don't
even want to hear about it being brokered for sale later on in the school day.

"And we think that we owe that to them."

Durkin said letters will be mailed before the end of the current school
term to parents with children in the town's school system, explaining the
new procedures.

Dogs and police handlers will not bother students. The random searches will
be done at predetermined locations -- such as lockers and parking lots --
while students and most faculty members would be in their respective
classrooms. If a classroom is searched, students would be moved to a
different location beforehand.

Smith said the process would take between 15 and 20 minutes.

"What we hope is that by our unannounced presence -- and at different
locations at different times -- that it will just keep people off balance
enough," Smith said. "And they'll know that we're not fooling around with
this; we take it seriously."

In other business, the School Committee hired Ron DiFabio to a full-time
position as director of business and operations. DiFabio had been the
School Department's interim business manager since the retirement of Joseph
Clark.