CHALLENGED OVER DRUG-SNIFFING DOGS

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association challenged the Abbotsford school
district over the weekend to drop their plans to use drug-sniffing
dogs in Abbotsford schools, but school officials are not accepting the
challenge.

The school board was scheduled to debate the draft policy after press
deadline last night. It was expected that trustees will adopt the
recommendations that drug dogs be used in schools as part of a new
comprehensive drug strategy.

"The school board is embarking on a disastrous path that will
certainly lead to false accusations and wrongly stigmatize students as
drug users," said BCCLA executive director Murray Mollard. "We have
tried to open their eyes but they have ignored our warnings and seem
more interested to impress with the message that they are getting
'tough on drugs.' Moreover, we do not believe this policy will
eliminate drugs in the schools."

Instead, they suggest drug and alcohol counsellors for
students.

He also claims that school board officials have disregarded their
concerns.

Don Szostak, chairman of the policy committee, disagrees. He notes the
new draft policy is "quite a bit different" than the one made public
in June and responds to some of the concerns raised, including the
worry that students could be stigmatized by the searches.

That's why hallways will be blocked off and classroom doors closed as
lockers are sniffed by dogs, and targeted lockers won't be opened
right away. If a student needs to be searched, it will be done in a
closed environment.

He's hopeful the policy will help deter drug use in
schools.

Uultsje De Jong, the trustee behind the comprehensive policy, says if
the policy passes he hopes the dogs will be used in high schools about
once per month beginning early next year.

He said school officials are taking steps to ensure students are aware
of the plan.

"It's not our intention to entrap people . . .our intention is to warn
everybody and keep drugs out of our schools," he said.

The dogs are just "one small segment" of the policy, said De Jong,
which includes consistent substance abuse education from school to
school, intervention, and rehabilitation.

Punishments for drug offences are outlined in the policy, and include
encouragement to complete an intervention program after a first offence.

"We're trying to plug them (students) into something that will help
them," said De Jong.

Abbotsford District Parent Advisory Council president Cindy Schafer
says a majority of parents at a meeting discussing the issue were
behind the proposed policy.