Part II: Despite concerns over civil rights, a plan to use dogs to sniff
out contraband at Venice High could be the newest tool as School

OFFICIALS TRY TO TAKE A BITE OUT OF DRUG USE

"To be able to detect gunpowder without having to do a search is very
attractive to us," said Jacobs, noting that administrators find weapons on
campus three or four time a year. "If we were to take those three or four
off [campus], you might be saving somebody's life. You never can tell."

Jacobs said he has no accurate measure of how often drugs are carried onto
campus.

But Claudia Border, a mother of two Venice High School graduates, said
she's heard all the evidence she needs that drugs are a problem at Venice.

"I've been told by students that you can go on that campus and buy pot any
day," she said.

Border, a member of the committee that administers Venice High's LEARN
program as part of a districtwide administrative reform effort, heard about
drug-sniffing dogs last year from relatives whose children attended a
private school that used them.

She brought the idea to Jacobs and the LEARN committee, which heard a
presentation by the company that would provide the dogs, Interquest Group
Inc., and voted to approach the school board for funding.

"I want to be able to say, 'Venice has zero tolerance, and here's our
record,' " Border said. "If you want to go to school and get an education,
you have to abide by the rules. If you can't, you're out."

If the proposal is approved, Venice High will spend about $2,500 per year
to have a retriever or Labrador arrive unannounced with a handler and
detect contraband.

"There's a common misconception that you're going to see this snarling
German shepherd in the school," said Michael Ferdinand, vice president of
Interquest, which began taking drug-sniffing dogs to Texas schools in 1979.

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)