LOCAL SCHOOLS RAIDED

Forty-nine students turned over illegal drugs at two local local high
schools Thursday morning to avoid being arrested.

The seizure of the drugs were part of an operation co-ordinated between
police and administration at Banting Memorial High School in Alliston and
St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic High School in Tottenham.

John Fallis, principal at Banting Memorial High School, said the police had
prearranged to enter the school.

Nottawasaga OPP, six dogs from the OPP's K-9 unit and one dog from Barrie
Police Service descended on the school.

Students were kept in classrooms and those in hallways were taken to
libraries and gymnasiums.

Nottawasaga OPP spokesperson Const. Darren Milley said students holding
drugs were given a choice.

"(They) were provided an opportunity to voluntarily surrender any drugs in
their possession prior to each classroom being checked," he said "Voluntary
surrender meant the student would be dealt with under the Safe Schools Act
and not by criminal proceedings."

In total 29 students from Banting and 20 students from St. Thomas Aquinas
voluntarily turned over drugs to police.

"The OPP gave the kids the choice to hand over the drugs without charges,"
Fallis said. "They were told that if they didn't hand (the drugs) over,
then the police might (charge them). What I saw was kids handing it over
voluntarily."

Police said two students from Banting and three from St. Thomas chose not
to surrender their drugs and were subsequently charged with possession
under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Two knives were also seized
from students at St. Thomas.

A call to St. Thomas' administration was not returned Thursday.

Police said among the drugs seized were a "significant" quantity of
marijuana, cannabis resin, psilocybin (magic mushrooms), cocaine and
various drug paraphernalia.

At Banting, the search took longer than one period. The students were kept
in place for about two hours while police were conducting the operation.

Debbie Clarke, a spokesperson for the Simcoe County District School Board,
said the joint operations are now fairly routine.

Milley said they are a way to keep drugs out of school and serve as a
deterrent to more coming in.

"Routine drug sweeps of high schools are a part of the ongoing partnership
between the police and area school boards and are designed to reduce the
presence of drugs in school," Milley said.

Thursday's sweep comes on the heels of an operation last week in which five
people were arrested for various drug charges and five others were warned.
In that case only one arrest took place on school property at the behest of
staff. The rest took place across the street from Banting.

Despite how the recent arrests and searches may look in the eyes of the
public, both officers and school staff insist the problem of drugs is small
when the size of the school is taken into account.

"We have 1,800 students in the school," Fallis said. "The bulk of them
co-operated. I'm quite certain this will help students make better choices."