DRUG SEARCH AT SCHOOL PROMPTS SUIT

The parents of 17 students, some as young as 6, filed a lawsuit on Thursday
against a South Dakota school board and police department for bringing a
drug-sniffing dog to check children in every classroom, from kindergarten
through high school.

The suit, filed in federal court in Sioux Falls, says the principal of the
school announced in a first-period class in early May that the school,
Wagner Community School, was in a lockdown and that students could not
leave their classrooms. Wagner police and federal officers then took the
dog into classes, the suit contends, frightening some students so badly
that they cried.

Kenneth Cotton, the school district's lawyer, said he could not comment on
the case because he had not talked to the school board or administrators.

"All I know is that I have a sixth-grader and a ninth-grader," Cotton said,
"and when I asked them about it, they said a dog had come to their
classrooms, walked up and down in an orderly way and left after about two
minutes. I can't tell you why the dog was brought into the classrooms, but
I know there is a drug problem in the community and zero tolerance for
drugs in the school."

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld random drug tests for students
who take part in extracurricular activities, opening the way to more
aggressive drug enforcement in schools.

Since the late 1980s, many schools, including Wagner's, have used dogs to
search lockers and hallways. Courts have allowed that because the lockers
are school property.

Graham Boyd, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Drug Policy
Litigation Project and lead lawyer in the South Dakota case, said the use
of the dog, a German shepherd, in the classrooms terrorized many of the
children.

In one kindergarten classroom, the suit contends, the dog got away from its
handler and chased students around the room. Students were told to keep
their hands on their desks and not to pet the dog or make sudden movements.
In some classrooms, school officials warned that sudden movements might
make the dog attack.

The lawsuit seeks both compensation and an order barring dog searches in
classrooms when school resumes on Aug. 20.