DOGS TO SNIFF OUT DRUGS IN SCHOOLS

In an effort to deter students from bringing drugs or guns to school,
administrators at Durango High School and the district's middle
schools will open their halls over the next year to random searches by
specially trained canines.

It wouldn't be the first time the district has worked with handlers to
use dogs to search the schools, but this will be the first time that
such inspections will happen on a contractual basis, said Durango High
School Assistant Principal John Marchino, who organized the searches.

"We have a contract right now through April of 2006," Marchino said.
"That means searches could happen any time during the next full year."

Searches will be random and unannounced, said 9-R spokeswoman Deborah
Uroda, who was still gathering information about the program when she
mistakenly said last month that the searches would be announced ahead
of time.

During a search, if a dog takes interest in a student's locker,
district officials then have probable cause to search the locker since
it is school property, Marchino said. Similarly, student vehicles
parked on campus may also be searched under a stipulation outlined in
the on-campus parking policy at DHS.

If drugs are found, they will be placed in a sealed bag and turned
over to school administrators. Students may then be subject to
suspension and even expulsion if it is a repeated offense.

According to the DHS discipline policy, a student found for the first
time in possession of drugs or alcohol will be issued a five-day
in-school suspension. The student can go through a drug or alcohol
assessment, analyzing the severity of the problem, and have the
suspension reduced to three days.

A second offense leads to expulsion. If a student is caught with a
weapon or a facsimile of a weapon in school, he or she can also be
expelled, Marchino said.

On Monday night, Lori Tilton, senior manager for the education
division of Canine Associates International, gave three parents and
one student at Miller Middle School a demonstration of a dog search.

Carlos, a 2-year-old Labrador retriever, bounded into the gymnasium.
When Tilton said "search" in Dutch - "zoeken" - the dog immediately
began sniffing three jackets and found a bullet in one of them.

Dog searches, Tilton said, have saved at least three students
nationally from suicide and one girl from shooting her boyfriend after
school. The presence of the dogs won't stop students from bringing
drugs, alcohol or guns on campus, but the dogs are a deterrent and
give students dealing with peer pressure an excuse not to do drugs.

Once students know the dogs are coming, some will bury their drugs or
alcohol around the campus perimeter, Tilton said. Then they pick it up
during breaks or after school. Therefore, handlers make sure to check
those areas in addition to walking through the school.

Cheryle Brandsma, a parent at the demonstration, said she approved of
the dog's presence. She also worries about indifference and disbelief
in parents.

"There's such apathy," she said. "Part of it's being unaware, part of
it's being naive. There's this denial."

Although administrators are trying to make the schools safer, the
thought of being subject to searches makes some students uneasy.

Dog searches at a glance

Why are searches being used locally?

Durango School District 9-R administrators want to increase school
safety, cut down on drug use and create a deterrent to possession.

Which schools will they search?

Durango High School, Miller Middle School, Escalante Middle School and
Excel Charter School through April 2006 on unannounced, random visits.

Will the dogs search students?

No. They will search lockers, vehicles and common areas when students
are not in the hallways or common areas.

Are the dogs friendly?

The dogs are many different breeds, and they are non-aggressive,
friendly and approachable. According to Canine Associates
International's Chief Operations Officer Brian Yates, the dogs treat
the searches as a game.

What happens during a search?

If the dogs show interest in a certain object, the individual will be
brought to the site. The handler will remind the person of the odors
the dog is trained to detect and ask if he or she can think of any
reason for the dog's interest. The handler will ask the student's
permission to inspect the items to ensure the safety of the site. In
the event contraband is found, it will be sealed in a bag and signed
over to the school.

How do schools measure success?

Canine Associates helps set quantifiable goals based on each school's
needs, such as the number of suspensions for possession of illegal
drugs.

- - Herald/Karla Sluis

Source: Canine Associates International; Web site,
www.k9intl.com

"I think they have a right to search the school, but not our cars.
They should ask us first," said Jimmy Vollert, 15, a DHS sophomore.
"They're making it seem like we're in a prison."

When asked about the safety benefits of dogs trained to sniff for
gunpowder in light of a recent school shooting in Minnesota, students
were skeptical that Durango needed such measures.

"This is Durango," said Monica Purdham, 15, a DHS freshman. "It think
it's good that they're looking out for our safety, but they are
sending the wrong message. This isn't an inner-city school."

Finding students with guns at school has been more rare, but it's not
completely off the radar. In 2003, a fifth-grader at Needham
Elementary was expelled after bringing a .25-caliber semi-automatic
pistol to school. He also carried a clip with six bullets in his shoe
or sock.

Still, school officials are seeing the searches as a preventive
measure.

"The reason we're doing this is as a deterrent," Marchino said.
"There's really no other reason for the timing, we've been looking for
someone to do this since September of 2003."

The school district will work with Oregon-based Canine Associates
International, which also contracts with other school districts on the
Front Range and has done contract work for the military to search for
explosives in Iraq.

The cost of searches will be split between the middle schools and DHS.
A full day of searching, Marchino said, costs $600. The high school
will pay for a half-day search while the middle schools will each pay
for a quarter of the day.

District 9-R's contract entails more than one day of searches at
Durango schools. Marchino said the schools could see as many as 15 to
20 contact days with the drug dogs.

Marchino said administrators at Durango High School are aware that
some students use drugs while at school. He cited a 2001 survey from
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that showed 50 percent
of 12th-grade students nationally admit to using marijuana at least
once in their lifetime.

"In Durango we're probably looking at a decent percentage of people
using it on a regular basis, even dealing it - particularly in our
high school of 1,500," Marchino said.

Marchino said it isn't uncommon for administrators or teachers to
catch students in possession or under the influence of drugs or
alcohol, but it has been rare for students to be caught for a second
offense, which merits expulsion.

"If a kid gets caught, they learn not to do it at school," Marchino
said, adding he hoped that the possibility of random drug searches by
canines could deter students even further.

Herald Night Editorial Assistant Lisa Meerts-Brandsma contributed to
this story.