DOGGING DRUGS ON CAMPUS

Venice High School could soon be the site of a sadly necessary pilot program
designed to reduce the presence of illegal drugs and weapons on campus. At
its next meeting, the Board of Education should approve a proposal to
periodically take drug-sniffing dogs onto campus over a one-year period.

Sniffer dogs already are a fact of life in a number of Los Angeles-area
public and private schools, but Venice High would be the first campus of the
L.A. Unified School District to have such a program. The school plans to
contract with a private company that takes amiable Labradors and golden
retrievers, rather than intimidating German shepherds, to campuses for
unannounced sniff-searches of classrooms, student lockers and possibly cars
in the school's parking lot.

Students themselves would not be searched by the dogs, which are trained to
detect marijuana, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines, alcohol, a few
medications and gunpowder. If a dog signaled the presence of one of these
substances in a locker or backpack or desk, the student would be questioned
by school officials rather than police.

It is a hard reality that, as Venice principal Bud Jacobs notes, guns and
other weapons are found at the school three or four times a year. Keeping
them away could save a student's life. This year's gun violence on America's
school grounds is evidence of the need.

According to some Venice parents, drugs are available on the West Los
Angeles campus despite the district's zero tolerance policy.

Jacobs hopes that the dogs will provide an effective deterrent.

Yes, along with the metal detectors in use on many campuses, dogs add to the
gloomy feeling of many teenagers that they are prison inmates rather than
high school students. But the experiment in Southern California schools
should be seen in the light of growing concern.

The move in Venice for the one-year program demonstrates the commitment of
parents and teachers to improving the school. The proposal to use the dogs
originated with the Venice LEARN Council, a group of parents, teachers and
staff that helps govern the school. This is an idea worthy of school board
approval.

Copyright Los Angeles Times

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett