STUDENT INTERROGATION AND DRUG-FREE POLICY AMENDED

The public school division's policy on interrogations, searches, and
interviews by outside agencies has been tightened.

Parkland School Division trustees approved changes to the policy at their
April 16 meeting.

After soliciting advice from the division's lawyers, trustees decided the
policy needed to be updated to clarify locker searches. The amended
document recognizes that the board owns the lockers, and school
administrators have the right to inspect them if the principal or his
designate has "reasonable grounds that a student is concealing something,
possession of which is a violation of the law, or of school rules."

Under the revised policy, students also have the opportunity to "provide
consent for such a search and to be present, or to make voluntary
disclosure of the suspected property."

Students are also allowed to have an adult present at the search.

Trustee Richard Mah said that puts a lot of responsibility on a child. "It
might be intimidating for a 12 year-old to be making that decision."

Administrators who perform the search will be held liable for any lost or
stolen goods taken from the student.

The policy was reviewed by the division's solicitors to ensure it complies
with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the parameters set out by the
Supreme Court of Canada.

Drugs

At the same meeting, trustees reviewed and revised the Drug-Free Protocol
to meet the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIP) act.

A clause in the previous agreement had Parkland administrators sharing
expulsion information with the Evergreen Catholic Separate Regional
Division, but that was found to break FOIP laws.

At the beginning of the school year, students must sign a locker agreement
and review the Drug-Free Protocol with their parents before being issued a
locker.

The Drug-Free Protocol is a joint project by both school divisions and the
local RCMP detachments to keep drugs and other contraband substances off
school grounds.