DRUG-DOG PLAN UNDER FIRE

Milpitas administrators want to nip problem in schools before it grows

The Milpitas Unified School District is considering a plan to turn
drug-sniffing dogs loose in classrooms, hallways and parking lots, and
irate students and parents are vowing to fight it.

``This won't make it more safe. It will just make students more
frightened,'' said Adam Weinstein, 17, senior class treasurer at Milpitas
High School. ``It makes it look as if we are heading more towards a prison
than a school.''

While the district concedes it has some of the lowest drug-related incident
rates in the state, the proposal has the support of most of the board and
could be adopted as early as Feb. 24.

Students' backpacks, lockers and vehicles would be subject to random,
unannounced searches by specially trained dogs sensitive to the smell of
drugs, alcohol or gunpowder. The students themselves would not be searched.

The plan is virtually identical to a Sacramento-area school district policy
challenged in federal court by the American Civil Liberties Union and
eventually overturned after a Galt High School student refused to be
searched.

Milpitas district officials say there has not been a single drug- or
alcohol-related expulsion in the past year, and the district has the lowest
number among county schools for drug-related incidents. But administrators
- -- who have promised that all district schools would be free of drugs,
alcohol and violence by 2002 -- are pushing the idea as a preventive
measure.

``Yes, we're at the low end of what happens at schools regarding the issue
of drug use,'' said Charles Gary, principal at Milpitas High. ``But why
wait until there is a real problem? We have to be proactive.'' Gary said
some students have come to him complaining of drugs on campus, and students
have dubbed a park across the street from the school ``Stoner Park.''

If approved, the first dogs could be in Milpitas high schools and middle
schools as early as April. That's when the district wants to begin
demonstrating the dogs at work during school assemblies, to put students on
notice of the policy. Full-scale searches would begin on campuses in the
fall. Elementary schools would probably not be searched.

The dogs cost $300 per visit. The district wants up to six visits this
spring and as many as 20 random searches next school year.

In a demonstration at a school board meeting last week, a handler from
Interquest Detection Canines -- a private Houston-based company that
conducts dog searches in 80 school districts around California -- showed
off Bandit, a playful 18-month-old golden retriever. The dog successfully
found a small bottle of vodka hidden in a planter in the room, pawing on
the container until it was rewarded with a treat.

Christine Moore, a senior handler with Interquest, said her dogs are
trained to seek out the smell of alcohol, illegal and over-the-counter
drugs, and gunpowder. She says a dog's sense of smell is 1,000 times more
sensitive than a human's.

``They think, in their mind, they are looking for their toy,'' she said as
Bandit actively sniffed the room. ``He just thinks we are playing
hide-and-go-seek.''

The practice of using drug-sniffing dogs in schools came under fire
recently when the Galt Unified School district, near Sacramento, contracted
with Interquest to do random searches of its classrooms and property. Dogs
would search rows of students' lockers or groups of vehicles parked in
student parking lots.

Classroom searches

The dogs and a handler would also enter a classroom, unannounced, and ask
students to step out, leaving their backpacks, jackets and other belongings
behind. The dogs would then sniff the room and ``hit'' on any contraband.

One student, Jacob Reed, refused to leave behind his belongings when the
dogs entered his senior criminal-studies class last February. He was taken
to the office and threatened with suspension. He then allowed the search,
and nothing was found. The next day, Reed and his teacher contacted the
ACLU, which filed suit in federal court alleging the district violated the
student's rights against unreasonable search and seizure. A month later,
the district terminated its policy, canceled its contract with Interquest,
and settled with the ACLU, agreeing to pay $35,000 in legal fees.

``The fact that I refused a search doesn't mean I should be searched, ''
said Reed, who now has a Web site at http://www.softcom.net/users/kareed/
and is leading a nationwide campaign against drug-sniffing dogs at school.
``I didn't see the logic in it.''

Los Gatos limits dog use

The dogs have also been used at Los Gatos High School for the past year but
are limited to locker and parking-lot searches. Los Gatos High does not do
the unannounced classroom searches, according to Craig Heimbichner,
assistant principal.

``You need some individualized suspicion before you can subject a student
to that kind of search,'' said John Heller, an ACLU cooperating attorney
who represented Reed in the Galt case. ``Students don't give up all their
rights when they pass through the schoolroom doors.''

But Milpitas' Principal Gary disagrees: ``Students have no rights of
privacy here at school, especially when it comes in conflict with the
rights of the whole.''

The ACLU says it can't get involved in the Milpitas issue until the policy
is approved and a student, teacher or parent files a complaint.

Other area schools using the dogs include Monte Vista Christian School in
Watsonville and the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District.

State and federal courts are unclear about drug-sniffing dogs in schools.
But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1985 that students are subject to a
lesser standard for searches at school -- ``reasonable suspicion, '' rather
than the legally stronger ``probable cause'' standard.

Wrong message sent

But, either way, some parents and students think the dogs send the wrong
message.

``This seems to me to be a knee-jerk reaction,'' said Mike Mendizabal, a
parent and a member of the Community Board Advisory Council. ``I don't see
the situation as being that bad in this district.''

Members of the Milpitas High School Student Congress, who voted against the
idea 46-8, agree.

``It's like, when you drive down a really nice neighborhood, and see one
house with bars on the windows,'' said Eleanor Mangusing, senior class
president. ``It makes you think there's a crime problem in the
neighborhood, even if there isn't. People will now look at the school and
say, `Wow, they have a drug problem there.' ''