DRUG SWEEP OF SCHOOLS LEADS TO ISSUE OF RIGHTS

WHEN school officials in Canton allowed police officers to search the
hallways and parking lots at the middle school and the high school
with drug-sniffing dogs last June, their effort netted the arrest of
one student found with a small amount of marijuana.

But the search also resulted in a long-running discussion in the
community about whether the school was violating students' rights by
using a longstanding but rarely employed school board policy that
allowed school officials to lock students in their classrooms as it
searched for drugs.

After a handful of parents and the American Civil Liberties Union
complained that the drug sweeps were disruptive and heavy-handed, the
school board temporarily suspended the policy until it could be
reviewed. The board is now reviewing possible changes to the policy,
and a vote is expected in the next few weeks.

Drug-sniffing dogs are better suited for crime scenes, not public
schools, which are supposed to be places of learning, places of
trust," Jon Matthews, A.C.L.U.'s legal director in Connecticut, told
the school board at a hearing earlier this month. "It creates an
atmosphere that makes students look like suspects."

During the sweep, on June 5, 15 high school students were pulled out
of class to watch as officers searched their lockers or cars.

Jane Latus said her daughter, now a freshman in college, was pulled
out of class on that June morning and escorted to her locker to watch
as it was surrounded by three or four police officers. "One officer
kept his hand on his gun the whole time, which scared her," Mrs.
Latus said outside a school board meeting earlier this month. The
search did not turn up drugs in her locker, her mother and school
officials said.State school officials knew of no other schools that
were exercising their right to use dogs to sniff out drugs in Connecticut.

Vincent Mustaro, senior policy adviser at the Connecticut Association
of Boards of Education, said he did not routinely send the policy
that allows such searches to school boards because few have ever
requested it. "It's a minority of school boards, definitely not a
majority," Mr. Mustaro said in a phone interview last week. "They're
more interested in video surveillance than dogs."

In Canton, the sweep may have been well-intentioned, but "it was
carried out so ineptly," Mrs. Latus said.

Elisa Villa, a criminal defense lawyer and mother of three students
at the schools, said in a phone interview earlier this month that the
board's policy provides for searches when necessary. She said the
policy's restrictive language "when necessary" is intended to
"prevent such capricious conduct on the part of Canton's
superintendent of schools."

All you can do as educators and parents is let your kids know about
the health and legal risks associated with drug use," Mrs. Villa
said. "Arresting kids for drugs doesn't prevent them from doing
drugs. They should deal with it as a health issue, not a criminal issue."

The A.C.L.U. of Connecticut also said that the way the practice is
carried out -- with only lockers and parking lots subject to searches
- -- students with drugs can still go undetected.

This means that students wishing to bring drugs to school can easily
avoid these sweeps by storing drugs on their persons," Mr. Matthews said.

Susan Crowe, the Canton school board member in charge of the policy
committee, said the committee is drafting a policy that "respects
students' individual rights, while keeping the general student body
safe." While there were committee members willing to consider
rescinding the policy, "we thought it was better to work with the
policy," she said.

Kevin Witkos, a state representative and Canton police officer
involved in the June drug sweep, said he thought the policy was
"effective in that the student body knows it could happen again." He
said schools have to use every tool they can to deter drug use and
keep drugs off school grounds.

Kevin D. Case, the schools superintendent, said the drug sweeps "are
just one piece of the puzzle as we work to keep the middle school and
high schools a safe, drug-free zone."