SCHOOL DISTRICT MULLS USE OF DRUG-SNIFFING DOGS

LAKE ELSINORE -- Dogs' powerful sense of smell -- estimated at 1,000 times
that of human beings -- may soon be put to the test on Lake Elsinore Unified
School District campuses.

The district is weighing using drug- and explosive-sniffing dogs to conduct
random searches of classrooms and cars parked on campus parking lots in an
effort to make local schools safer, district officials say.

The possible move comes against a backdrop of survey results showing rising
use of illegal drugs at Lake Elsinore Unified schools.

The district recently invited Fullerton-based All States K-9 Patrol
Explosives & Drug Detection to make a presentation to its board of trustees,
describing how the company uses the dogs.

A series of federal court decisions over the past two decades, allowing the
canine searches -- with certain restrictions -- has resulted in a growing
number of school districts around the state and the country contracting
private firms to conduct the random searches.

Locally, Temecula Valley Unified School District has used a private company
for more than two years to conduct random searches for drugs and explosives
using canine search teams, according to Mike Runnion, the district's
director of child welfare and attendance.

Canine teams from San Diego-based Interquest Detection Canines annually make
34 unannounced visits to that district's three high school and four middle
school campuses, Runnion said. The dogs inspect restrooms, automobiles and
classrooms after students have been asked to go outside.

During the 2000-01 school year, dogs signaled the presence of illegal drugs
on 10 occasions and gunpowder eight times, Runnion said, calling the program
a big success.

"When you advertise and the dogs walk around the campus, and the students
don't know when the searches will be and know other kids who got caught, the
word spreads," he said.

Students who are caught with illegal substances go through an expulsion
process, which -- for first-time offenders -- generally results in a
suspended expulsion. The offender must follow a strict disciplinary contract
after the reprieve, however, and a violation may result in the expulsion
being imposed, Runnion said.

Temecula Valley Unified -- with approximately 21,000 students -- handed out
37 drug-related expulsions last year, Runnion said.

Lake Elsinore Unified, meanwhile -- with a student population of about
18,000 -- last year had about 70 students who went through the expulsion
process either for possession of marijuana or being under the influence of
the drug while on campus, said Donna Dalton Opoku-Agyeman, the district's
director of child welfare and attendance.

All of those students were given suspended expulsions, she said --
essentially a probation. But like TVUSD students, those in Lake Elsinore
schools must also sign a binding disciplinary contract, which if not honored
may result in expulsion.

Spike In Drug Use On Campus

The number of apprehensions, however, is apparently just the tip of the
iceberg when it comes to the growing student use of illegal drugs on Lake
Elsinore campuses, as shown by two student surveys conducted at district
schools over the past three years.

A 1999 state-funded, anonymous survey of district high school and middle
school students showed that 5 percent of seventh-graders, 12 percent of
ninth-graders and 8 percent of 11th-graders surveyed had smoked marijuana on
campus. By 2001, however -- when the same private firm again conducted the
survey -- those numbers had spiked to 11 percent of seventh-graders, 16
percent of ninth-graders and 15 percent of 11th-graders.

The same surveys showed that whereas 9 percent of seventh-graders, 27
percent of ninth-graders and 33 percent of 11th graders had been offered
illegal drugs at school, in 1999, by the 2001 study those numbers had
increased to 15 percent, 38 percent and 43 percent, respectively.

School district board member Jeanie Corral said she is disturbed by the
increases, but that society and parents must share responsibility for what
happens on campus.

"I think it goes back to the kind of values that society stresses and
parents or any adult models," Corral said. "I wish more parents would sit
down with their young people and say to them: 'Why are you doing this?'"

The district and administrators work hard to educate children on to the
dangers of illegal drugs, she said. "But these efforts haven't been able to
prevent youngsters from experimentation."

Corral said she has mixed feelings about the idea of using the drug-sniffing
canines on campus. "It raises a few questions about due process and
individual student privacy, but it needs to be considered because adults
need to protect the young -- that is part of our charge."

One of the reasons for the increase in students using illegal drugs at
school may be the growth in student population, she said. "More people means
it's easier to obtain."

Opoku-Agyeman said she supports the idea of using the canine teams at
district schools, although the school board would allow for ample public
input on the issue before making a decision.

"I would support any effort that would deter drug use, because the school's
function is student achievement, and where we see that is not happening, we
have a responsibility to students and their families," she said.

Reaction To Possible Use Of Canines

On a recent afternoon, students and parents at Temescal Canyon High School
had mixed reactions to the possibility of the canine searches on campus.

"I wouldn't have a problem with it," said Charles Mendoza, 38, father of a
17-year-old senior. "If the student doesn't have anything to hide, he
shouldn't be afraid."

Another parent had a different take.

"I don't think they should do that (use drug-sniffing dogs); it would be an
invasion of privacy," said Carla Meza, 38, as she waited to pick up her
17-year-old daughter. Meza said she is concerned with drug use, but doesn't
believe that random searches are going to address the problem of teens using
drugs.

"If kids want to get it or have it, they will," she said.

Brad Driscoll, 18, likes the idea of the random searches, he said.

"I am totally in favor," Driscoll said. "Kids being afraid they'd be caught
if they brought it (to school) would totally decrease the amount of drugs
brought to campus."

Tenth-grader Fabiola De Anda, 15, said she resents the idea of school
officials using the dogs.

"Our stuff is private; they need to mind their own business," she said. "It
doesn't concern other people what you bring to school."

Constitutional Question

The debate has raged for decades on the constitutionality of efforts by
school authorities to reduce drugs on campus ---- either through the use of
drug-sniffing dogs, random drug tests or physical searches of students and
their belongings.

The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution establishes "the right of the
people to be secure in their persons, houses papers, and effects, against
unreasonable searches and seizures ..." The Fourteenth Amendment, meanwhile,
establishes guarantees against depriving citizens of liberty without due
process of law.

The landmark 1982 U.S. Fifth District Court of Appeals decision on the use
of drug-sniffing dogs in schools, Horton v. Goose Creek Michigan Independent
School District, concluded that the use of dogs to sniff student lockers and
automobiles on school parking lots was lawful. It said that using the dogs
to sniff students' persons without probable cause, however, was not
justified. It also concluded that the mere presence of the dogs on campus
was minimal harassment and not unreasonable.

Another recent court decision may have further implications on the issue.
Although no local school districts currently do so, the U.S. Supreme Court
ruled in July that schools may randomly drug-test any student participating
in extracurricular on-campus activities.

Officials at Temecula, Murrieta and Lake Elsinore school districts said
there are currently no plans in place to institute such drug tests to
students, however.