SURPRISE! DRUG DOGS SWEEP SPARTA HIGH SCHOOL'S CAMPUS

Sparta -- Students were surprised Tuesday morning when teams of law
enforcement officers from the Sussex County Canine Division, Sussex County
Sheriff's Office, and Sparta Police showed up at Sparta High School and
began a thorough search of the building and grounds.

At approximately 7:45 a.m., Principal Richard Lio ordered a full lock-down
of the school. Six classrooms were randomly selected and students were sent
to wait in the auditorium and leave all belongings in their rooms. The
classrooms were then searched by one drug dog while another swept the
school parking lots, as well as all lockers in the building.

No drugs were found in the building or on the premises and Lio said he was
very pleased with the procedure. He said, "From a security perspective, the
lock-down was flawless. The staff performed as trained and the students
responded cooperatively and calmly." The school was locked down for a total
of 40 minutes.

The search was part of the school district's effort to crack down on
potential involvement with drugs among Sparta's young people, through
stiffer enforcement and continuing education. Lio said he hopes to send a
strong message that drugs in the schools will not be tolerated.

A letter to parents went home with high school students last week in which
he said, "Driving down drug use is a key priority for the Sparta School
District. To this end, I have contacted the Sussex County's Prosecutor's
office and the Sparta Police Department to ask if they would consider doing
a 'suspicion-less' canine sweep of Sparta High School. They indicated that
a search could be a possibility, but that the prosecutor's office, not the
school, would determine the date, time, and duration of the sweep." Only
Lio and Superintendent Dr. Thomas Morton had discussed contacting the
prosecutor's office and only they were informed that the sweep would be
Tuesday morning.

Lio said, "Studies demonstrate that adolescence is a critical period for
determining a person's risk for drug dependency. Young people who initiate
drug use early in their teen years are at a high risk for dependency."

Morton said he's certain that whatever drug use may exist among Sparta High
School students, it is certainly not to the degree of use found in the
majority of high schools. "It's nowhere near," he said, "and frankly, it's
probably much less than in most schools. But any drug use at all is
unacceptable and we are committed to addressing any problem that may exist
with every resource available to us, including the presence and
intervention of law enforcement and continuing drug education through the
curriculum."

Morton said he was very pleased with the response and assistance from the
Prosecutor's office, the canine squad, and the Sparta Police. He said the
district means business in this matter and that, "Another search could
happen again, at any time in the future."