SCHOOL DOG SEARCHES PRACTICAL AND LEGAL

Our view: Random drug-dog searches of school hallways don't violate
students' rights and are a practical way to make kids aware that
someone's watching.

The Pennsbury School District doesn't have a big drug problem but has
approved hiring a company whose specialty is sniffing out illegal
substances - literally sniffing them out using highly trained dogs.

What gives? Let's call it preventative maintenance.

Still, the district's decision potentially raises two controversies.
One involves the constitutional rights of the students whose lockers
might be searched. The other has to do with hiring a private,
out-of-state company vs. using local police canines and the county
DA's opposition to funding drug sweeps in the schools.

District Attorney Diane Gibbons is against using drug forfeiture
funds to reimburse local police for the canine searches, calling such
searches ineffective and likening them to using "storm troopers" to
shut down a school "like it was a prison." She also worries about
violating the students' constitutional rights.

The matter of students' civil rights is necessarily an important
concern. But students have no right to possess illegal substances of
any kind. And student representatives on the school board - present
for the vote approving the searches - said they didn't foresee
student opposition.

In fact, using dogs to search out such substances can be done in a
way that passes muster with the courts. And we think there is
practical value in "reminding kids that someone is watching," as a
Central Bucks official said in explaining his district's motivation
for likewise deciding to conduct periodic drug-dog searches.

Some kids need such reminders, and schools that choose to offer them
are to be applauded.

Criticism should be reserved for those schools that would rather
ignore their drug problems.

If Pennsbury is presented with a more effective, more economical
proposal for searching its schools for drugs - it'll pay roughly $200
for each of 10 searches - by all means it should be considered.
Meanwhile, the district's decision to move ahead speaks well of its
concern for the students placed within its care.