POLICE SEARCH SCHOOL WITH DOGS, COME UP EMPTY

Some Students Upset, Others Call Drugs A Problem

LEOMINSTER -- School officials kept Leominster High School students in
their classrooms for 30 minutes Thursday as state police and drug-sniffing
dogs searched the hallways.

The lock down came at 8:35 a.m., when an administrator announced over the
loudspeaker that students and teachers must stay in their classrooms until
the search was over.

Dogs alerted police to three or four lockers during the search, but police
found no drugs, said Principal William Hart.

Sophomore Johanna Creamer said after school on Thursday that the search was
"uncalled for."

"It was like a lock down," Creamer said. "That's what everyone said, they
were yelling 'lock down, lock down.' It was horrible, it was uncalled for.
(School officials) already deal with drugs -- they don't have to use big
dogs to scare us." Some students thought the search sent the wrong message
to students. "I think it's disgusting," said junior Colin Progen. "It makes
us look bad." The announcement signaling the start of the lock down scared
some students, said junior Vanessa Bosley.

"At first we thought it was a gun," she said. "They scared us." Police and
school administrators had been planning the search for months, said
Assistant Principal Tom Browne.

"It's an ongoing effort to provide as safe an environment as possible,"
Browne said.

Administrators announced all students and teachers should stay in their
classrooms during second period because of the search. Students in the
halls were instructed to go into a classroom. They were released at the end
of second period.

"It didn't disrupt any classes," Browne said. The search lasted about 30
minutes, Hart said. There was no contact between the dogs and students,
Browne said.

Junior Amanda Schuster said she was getting a book from her locker when the
announcement came over the loudspeaker.

She was pulled into the closest classroom -- which was not her normal
second-period class -- and sat there the rest of the period, Schuster said.
Drugs are not a big enough problem at the high school to warrant a search,
Bosley said.

"I think it's ridiculous," she said. "It makes us feel like criminals." Not
all students thought the search was a bad idea.

Yanina Fusaro, a junior, said it's about time the school took serious steps
to keep drugs out.

"I thought it was a good idea, because lately there have been a lot of
drugs and no one's been able to take control of it," Fusaro said. Fusaro's
friend, Jessie Leon, a junior, said marijuana is common, but she believes
ecstasy, Oxycontin and other drugs are also on school grounds. "(Drugs) are
basically all around," Leon said, especially in bathrooms. Students sell
and use drugs in school to fit in, or to make money, Fusaro and Leon said.
Freshman and sophomore students often sell to each other, they said.
"There's over a thousand people here," Fusaro said. "It's the best place to
sell." Despite their support of the administration's crackdown, the girls
were apprehensive about their privacy being invaded.

"My locker was investigated, and I didn't have anything. It was one near
me," said Fusaro, whose locker is on the first floor of the A-wing. Fusaro
said she would prefer being checked for drugs upon entering the school than
have dogs patrolling the grounds.

The search was a hot topic of conversation during the school day. "Everyone
was asking if anyone had heard anything," said junior Brad Harris. Police
Chief Peter Roddy called the search "routine." "We just want to make sure
everything's all right," he said. School Resource Officer Steven Creamer
made several drug arrests at the high school in January, according to
police reports.

One netted four juveniles who were charged with various crimes, including
distributing controlled substances in a school zone. There was another
search about two years ago, Hart said.