HALTON SCHOOLS TO LET THE DOGS IN

Canine Unit Will Search For Student Drugs And Guns

Plan Leaves Some Observers Uneasy

A plan to use customs dogs to sniff out drugs and weapons in Halton high
schools is raising the question of how far schools should go to protect
children from themselves.

It's an unusual step in Ontario schools, but Catholic and public board
officials in Halton say the new policy is just one dimension of routine drug
awareness education and prevention.

It fits with the provincially mandated Code of Conduct outlined in Ontario's
Education Act, said Halton District School Board community liaison Jacki Oxley.

"Every school board has a concern about students and drug use. Some school
boards have more initiatives or a variety of initiatives," she said.

Officials at some larger urban boards say it's a step beyond their own
safe-schools enforcement policies, but the Halton boards' policy isn't entirely
unique. The program was modelled on one in Hamilton, where principals could
call in police canine units to check for drugs. That plan has been suspended,
though, until marijuana possession laws are clarified, said board spokesperson
Jane Allison.

"There are things we've thought about in the last five years that we never
thought about before. It is a different world, and schools have to be flexible
in how they respond to it," she said.

Halton has used sniffer dogs before. Under a previous program called Project
Hall Walk, parents and students got a letter warning them in advance that a
canine search was planned at their school. The 10 searches conducted under that
program led to some small drug seizures but no criminal charges, and two years
ago the police and board suspended the project to re-evaluate it.

The new version eliminates the warning letters and expands the search routine
to include weapons and parking lots.

"When we introduced Project Hall Walk, we didn't have concerns from parents,"
Oxley said. "In fact, parents said thank-you for taking this proactive step in
helping our kids make good choices. I don't know any parent who would take
issue with a board having a drug prevention program."

Oakville father Alan Johnston agrees that schools should provide drug
awareness, but doesn't believe the canine searches are necessary.

"To lock the school down and put police in with dogs is extreme," said the
chair of the Blakelock High School parent council. "I think the whole policy
goes toward saying all students are going to have drugs or weapons at some
point in their life. There's a small percentage that's going to do that, but
why tar the majority?"

Johnston, whose 16-year-old daughter attends Grade 11, pointed out that
principals already have the power to search lockers where they believe it's
warranted.

"I'm not going to pretend there's no drug problem in Oakville schools. Is it
rampant? Probably not," Johnston said.

Halton Region police Detective Constable Nishan Duraiappah said drug and
weapons problems haven't increased sharply in the last decade, but teens are
using more chemical-based drugs such as ecstasy. And schools have become more
open about the issue.

"No high school in North America will say they don't have a problem. Why wait
until it gets to be a bigger problem?" Duraiappah said. "In Halton we haven't
had any major incidents with weapons, but we're saying, before it gets to that
point we're going to make every effort to curtail that."

If something is found, police and schools are careful not to push teens into
the criminal justice system, Duraiappah said .

"If we're dealing with a youth the first time we'll be involving the parents,
the family, staff from the schools, social workers," he said.

"The main purpose is to keep the drugs and weapons out of the schools and maybe
identify people who could use intervention," he said.

No such searches have been conducted yet, but police expect to search every
high school at least once and some more often.

The boards' approach may be part of a post-Columbine mindset, said Julian
Tanner, a professor at U of T's Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.
Tanner, an expert in safe-schools policies, said the canine program could risk
stigmatizing some schools or students.

"I would be wary of any or all of those types of measures," he said. "I would
worry about what the consequences are of turning schools into custodial
institutions."

Fred Mathews, a psychologist with Central Toronto Youth Services, says schools
walk a fine line between protecting teens and keeping drug and weapons problems
in perspective.

"I'm sure those administrators want their kids safe, and if they have to resort
to extraordinary measures then they'll do it. It's a tough call when you're
scared, when you're living with post-Columbine fears.

``And we're also living in a time when we're letting our communication between
adults and young people slip away," he said.

Keeping drugs off school property doesn't stop teens from using them, Mathews
said. Drug dealers tend to be intruders to school rather than students.

And while Mathews acknowledged that firearms do exist in schools, he said, "I'd
be very surprised, if you looked at all the schools in Halton on any given day,
(that) you'd find a gun."

So would Hasan Abbasi, 17, and Chris Hanson, 18, both in Grade 12 at White Oaks
Secondary School in Oakville. They say drugs and weapons aren't a big issue at
their school, and they resent the idea of police using dogs to search their
lockers.

"I saw someone with a Swiss army knife cut a bag of chips open," Abbasi said.
"It's Oakville. I don't think there are weapons here. There's no gang violence
? maybe if this was Toronto or Mississauga.

"What's next? Should we have to empty our pockets?" he said, calling it a
breach of privacy.

The teens say dog searches could discourage students from bringing drugs to
school, but only temporarily.

"It's just a scare tactic," Hanson said.

They acknowledge that it's easy for students to find a drug seller, though they
haven't seen drugs used at school.

"It's all about what happens at home," Abbasi said. "It's your parents'
responsibility to teach you at home. "