Crackdown at the Comp

It all started with the national anthem.

It was becoming apparent to Composite high school principal Phil Meagher
that some of his charges were more interested in congregating outside to
smoke and deal drugs than to show up for classes.

So now he's cracking down.

Administration at the downtown public high school has declared war on drug
dealing and smoking on school property. "I'm always up for a good battle,"
Meagher said. "Either we control this or it controls us."

During an assembly last week, students were told that smoking on school
property would from now on result in detention or suspension.

And Comp students were warned that Meagher has decided to hold random drug
checks with RCMP drug-sniffing dogs. "I think we have to take the lead,"
the principal said. "This is an issue that will run over us."

Meagher added that during his tours of classrooms and while chatting with
students, he has learned that it wouldn't take any student more than five
minutes to find a dealer and buy drugs.

"That's not good. It doesn't sit well with me."

Meagher said that for some of his students school has become "a place for
them to do business," rather than an educational institution.

Meagher said he is leading by example and has increased supervision and
locked all of the high school's side entrance doors. "We either do it or we
don't," he said, adding that if he can get the word out students might be
more apt to leave cigarettes and drugs at home.

RCMP Cpl. Beth Campbell said that while Meagher has every right to search
and seize lockers at his high school and to hand out detentions or
suspensions for students smoking on school property, using the RCMP's two
local drug-sniffing dogs isn't as easy as Meagher implied during his Friday
assembly.

Students are protected from unwarranted RCMP searches by the province's
privacy laws and have a right to reasonable privacy, even at school, she said.

"The dogs certainly cannot be used as a scare tactic to freak-out the
kids," Campbell said. "There are a lot of different issues with dogs
sniffing out lockers."

Campbell said that the RCMP must have a search warrant to search and seize
and cannot use the dogs for a fishing trip to randomly roam the halls
sniffing for trouble.

"Principals cannot act as an agent of the police," she added. "These are
two different playing fields."

Campbell explained that the dogs could only be used legally if the school
administration had a specific purpose, had reasonable probable cause and
had a search warrant.

"It's (the principal's) job to keep the school safe," she said.