WELL-REGARDED NEW JERSEY HIGH SCHOOL TO USE DRUG-SNIFFING DOGS

MILLBURN, N.J. -- The high school here, which was named the state's
best by a respected magazine last year, plans to begin using dogs to
search for drugs on campus this spring.

"We seek to discourage illegal substances from being brought into
school and to show unequivocal support for those students who do 'just
say no,' " the principal of Millburn High, William S. Miron, and the
district superintendent, Richard Brodow, wrote in an e-mail message to
parents and students Friday afternoon. "I willingly risk student trust
if it saves a single life."

In stepping up searches for drugs, Millburn will join scores of
schools across New Jersey and the country. About 1,000 districts have
introduced random tests for marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines and an
assortment of other narcotics since the United States Supreme Court
ruled in 2002 that schools could test students participating in
extracurricular activities. A growing number also test for alcohol.
Locally, West Essex Regional High School in North Caldwell, N.J.,
about 10 miles from Millburn, had two visits by canine patrols this
year, neither netting any drugs.

The New York Civil Liberties Union has called police dog searches
"incompatible with nurturing environments that are supposed to be
conducive to adolescent education," and argued that school districts
must create a careful balance between school safety and student rights.

And next month, the United States Supreme Court is scheduled to hear
the case of an Arizona honors student who was strip-searched after
administrators suspected her of bringing prescription-strength
ibuprofen to school.

At Millburn High, where this week students reported an increased
police presence, administrators have previously shied away from using
dogs to address any problems with alcohol or drug use, and on Friday
they would not say what changed their minds.

"We have a very relaxed atmosphere here," the principal, Mr. Miron,
said in an interview. "But we feel like this is the final step that we
can do to say that we're doing our part."

Calls to two Millburn police captains were not returned on
Friday.

A sampling of the police blotter from this month showed two
15-year-olds charged with drinking at a party on March 14, and on
March 7, three Millburn students, ages 13 to 15, were charged with
possessing alcohol.

On Jan. 9 a local minister, the Rev. Darryl L. George, 58, of Short
Hills, was arrested at the school along with two of his sons, accused
of attacking a Millburn High student in a school parking lot. Some
witnesses said the victim, an 18-year-old senior who received minor
injuries, was hit with a baseball bat. That encounter resulted in
assault charges against the minister and his older son, and the
suspension of his 15-year-old son, a student at the school.

Such events are uncommon at the high school, which was ranked first in
the state by New Jersey Monthly magazine last year and in 2007 was
97th in U.S. News and World Report's survey of the nation's 100 best
high schools.

"The whole community in general is motivated academically," Mr. Miron
said. "But when you have 1,400 students in a school, to think that
teenagers aren't going to make mistakes, or that we're somehow immune
from problems every suburban and urban school is faced with, is just
unrealistic."

Mr. Miron said either the Essex County Sheriff's Office or a private
security group would provide the dogs, who would start searching the
school "certainly within the next couple months."

The plan received mixed reviews Friday afternoon at the train station,
where Rosemarie Dawes, whose children recently graduated from Millburn
High, was picking up two commuters. "I don't think it's the right
idea," she said. "I just think it's too much for high school kids to
deal with that." Still, she said "there should be something more being
done," noting that when her students were in school, the campus had
problems with marijuana.

Anne Pollock, the mother of a recent graduate of the school as well as
of a Millburn Middle School student, welcomed the dogs, without
concerns about invading student privacy.

"When I was in school, they got to go through your purse," she noted.
"You don't want any of it in the town, you want to try to keep it out."

Two 16-year-old girls who declined to give their names said they felt
the new procedure was "a little unnecessary" because most of the
incidents involving drug or alcohol happened outside of school.

"There were cops strolling around all week," one said. "It was kind of
distracting, sitting in class with cops walking by."