SCHOOL BOARD HOLDING FIRM ON DRUG DOGS

Under fire from civil rights groups, trustees of the Sausalito Marin
City School District have broadened Monday's public hearing on the
use of drug-sniffing dogs to include a report on the legal
justification of the practice.

Board president George Stratigos also made it clear Friday that a
majority of the trustees will not back away from the contentious use
of dogs at the district's 38-student Martin Luther King Jr. middle
school in Marin City.

Terri Harris Green, a district parent and a member of the Marin City
Community Services District board, said it was evident from
Stratigos' statement that the board "is stuck in cement."

"This does not make for good community relations. I really hate what
is happening. We have people who we voted to represent us, and they
don't want to hear from us."

The American Civil Liberties Union has called on the district to end
the program because it "lacks a legitimate basis."

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has
launched an investigation into the district out of concern the
practice would violate the civil rights of students.

Stratigos said the board was open to hearing from critics. But, he
added, after trustees hear from their lawyer and implement whatever
adjustments are needed to assure its legality, "it is pretty clear
that a majority are pretty steadfast" about keeping the policy.

Originally, the special meeting was called to allow district parents,
most of them from Marin City, to voice opinions about the program.

Many parents and students have been sharply critical of the program
and criticized the board for not hearing from them before the plan
was adopted in November.

The board president said he was encouraging parents and others to
come not only with complaints about the drug dog program but with
possible "solutions" to drug problems in Marin City.

If, for example, a parent says, "'I know all the drug dealers in
town,'" Stratigos said, "then give us a list of names."

Under the program, Interquest Detection Canines of Houston will
perform monthly inspections of the middle school. In January, the
company brought the dogs to the school to introduce them to students
who, under the program, will leave their classrooms while the dogs
sniff their backpacks and other personal belongings. Inspections are
to continue until the end of the school year at a cost of $2,500.

Trustees have said they have no evidence of drugs at the school but
that they want the dogs to reassure them. Also, Stratigos has
explained, trustees want the school to have a clean bill of health so
a new superintendent, expected by July, will know there is nothing in
the way of the district's march to academic excellence.