DRUG SWEEP TURNS UP LITTLE

Quakertown High School officials held surprise inspection.

A surprise search by drug-sniffing dogs of approximately 1,700 lockers at
Quakertown High School Thursday morning turned up only one alleged instance
of a student in possession of an illegal substance, according to
Superintendent Jim Scanlon.

"People say there are a lot of drugs in the schools," Scanlon said. "But if
our students are using, it's before and after school."

Scanlon said he requested the sweep after hearing from several students
that drugs are an ongoing problem at the high school. Only a handful of
administrators were informed ahead of time, he said.

About 9:30 a.m. Thursday, three drug-sniffing dogs from the state police
and one from the Pennridge Regional Police Department arrived at the school
on Park Avenue. It took about 30 minutes to complete the sweep, according
to Scanlon.

An announcement was made over the public address system instructing
teachers to close all doors and keep students in their classrooms during
the search, he said.

"We just went on with our work," said Beth Potter, a junior from
Trumbauersville. "We knew what was going on."

As the dogs alerted their handlers to the possibility of drugs being
present, Scanlon said, Quakertown administrators noted the locker number
and then summoned the student assigned to that locker to be there during a
search.

Scanlon said there were several "hits," but only one locker was found to
have allegedly illegal contraband in it. In the other cases, drugs may have
been present at one time or the dogs may have been detecting residue on a
student's clothing or books, he said.

"We could only go by what we saw," Scanlon said.

Although it would have been legal, Scanlon said, he declined to have the
dogs brought into classrooms to detect drugs on students.

"If we have reasonable suspicion, we can search kids," he said. "But
bringing the dogs into the classroom would have been too disruptive. But we
own the lockers, so there's no problem there."

While dogs sniffed lockers, Quakertown police conducted a visual inspection
of cars parked in district parking lots, Police Chief Jim McFadden said.
Suspected illegal contraband was seen in two student cars, he said, and
after a search warrant was issued, police took possession "of very small
amounts of contraband."

Charges are pending positive identification of the substances, he said.

"We were pleased with what we didn't find," McFadden said. "At this point
on this day we didn't find much. However, it was prior information that
brought us to this point."

In November 1995, a one-month undercover operation by the Bucks County
district attorney's office resulted in three students being charged with
selling LSD. At the time, district officials said they were pleased that
the drug problem did not appear to be more widespread.

Potter said she didn't have a problem with the search invading her privacy.

"I think it's a good idea," she said. "Drugs are a pretty big problem in
the school. Some people you would not suspect are doing them."