St. Albans Schools Will Have A Drug Dog Roaming The School

[Henry]

In the weekend edition of the St. Albans Messenger, Leon Thompson has an article on the St. Albans School System and their new employee to start work this fall in the schools.  The new employee will be a drug dog.  I guess some people have some objection to it, you know invasion of privacy - Oh Well, if you have no drugs you have no need to worry.

[Loctavious]

UHHHHH, kids have no privacy at school.  AND, what possible reason could ANYONE have for possessing drugs and at School?

[dearon]

Can you say "BIG BROTHER"  I believe in law enforcement however this is really going too far.

[Loctavious]

Really?  you think it's ok to have drugs in schools?  is this really an issue to focus on technicalities? or is that urge to play devils advocate?  do we really want to be 'technical' or debate a premise when kids safety is at stake?

  I can see being opposed to the whole drug-testing of athletes in schools or as a requisite to participate in any co-curricular event, but making sure little tommy didn't bring in some crack or other hard drug that looks like Pez or other candy and gives it to liittle selma is a good thing in my book.

[Loctavious]

I just did a websearch about this topic.  Although it sounds GREAT in theory and practice, the type of rhetoric I've read thus far - makes me cringe.  Some of the sentiments and comments, as surprisingly enough there isn't alot of public debate information outside forum discussions - nor official debates by towns, cities, or states, sounds very holy rollerish.  Meaning condemnation before investigation.  I'm not saying there's justification for using drugs ( unless for proven medicinal reasons) but condemning someone without knowing the facts - is like judging them without knowing them.

In the late 80'sand early 90's when i was in HS, there was a kid who was a straight 'A' student.  He came to school, was quiet, but good-natured, and kept to himself.  He respected authority but stood up for himself when needed.  Creative, but not expressive. 
Anyway, the one party he attended, he 'tried' marijuana with some of the 'cool' kids who he never really blended in with at school.  Before you knew it, it was all over the school that he was a druggy.  His grades did not waiver, nor his behavior, but the School got involved and so did mom and dad ( as perhasp they should have) next thing you know he had to leave school early every Thursday to go take a drug test - he had to do it for 3 months though he'd never tried it again 'supposedly'.  When someone finally took the time to get to know him, they found out that this kid witnessed his sister fall from a tree.  His older brother, who was suppose to be watching them - had gone somewhere in the neighborhood for a short time - mom and dad weren't home thus he called 911 and waited with his sister.  she died while he was waiting for the ambulance. 

Moral of the story - bad things happen to good people.  how they deal with in and move forward is for them to work out, and until the same happens to us, we shouldn't be quick to judge and then prescribe how they 'SHOULD' deal with it.  AND we shouldn't jump to conclusions based on hearsay.

[7F24]

You are not entitled to privacy in a public school, it is a learning institution that belongs to the taxpayers.  Police dogs in a school are no different than police officers in school.  They are there to protect the children of our community.  Personally, I'd like to see the dogs walking around the parking lot too.

We as a country have been too accepting of casual use of illegal drugs.  Those of us that think a little pot, or occasional cocaine use is not a big deal, should look at what's going on now in Mexico.  Drugs are a huge problem that we all need to help stop.

[David Shea]

Why are we concentrating so much on the student population?  Adults use drugs as well.  Wouldn't you want to know if one of the teachers, supports staff, vendors of visitors to the school was using or had drugs on their person?

I would...

[cedarman]

I disagree with the idea that you have no privacy in a public school.  That being said, I think there should be a drug smelling dog walking through every hallway of every school at least once a week on an irregular and unscheduled basis.

Having a drug dog walking through the hallways and smelling out drugs is NOT an invasion of privacy.  Having administrators doing random search of peoples lockers and personal backpacks to me is more of a privacy issue.  And the current Supreme court case about school administrators having a girls underwear search based on another student saying she is carrying drugs, that is going too far.

Glad to hear there are some school administrators willing to take reasonable steps (drug dog patrols) to help ensure the safety of our students.   Does our school in Fairfax do something similar?  If not, I hope they consider implementing this idea.

[Loctavious]

I agree about the Strip search issue.  As a parent i would be outraged as well.  Now if had been a razor blade used in an assault, then ok i can see a strip search, by a female, in a discreet and respectful manner.  But for ibuprofen? and based on hearsay?  WHAT the hell?  I'm glad the mom didn't give up and kept pursuing it - i don't care if it's listed as a banned substance!  it's not crack or anything like it which is obviously unreasonable.  As an administrator in this situation, I'd rather have had the mother come down to the school andhave her sort it out with the kid.  As well as the accuser and the mother.  I wonder if the accuser had been caught with some?  I didn't get any of those details in the 2 articles i read about it yesterday.  "cause if she had - then I'd want to know if the 2 students liked each other or had a falling out recently, you know the back story so i could've assessed if it was a lie to get the other girl in trouble.

[Henry]

Below is the actual article written by Leon Thompson which gives you much more information than I did.  It appeared in the Saturday, April 18, 2009 edition of The St. Albans Messenger.

Drug dog to roam St. Albans schools
By LEON THOMPSON
Messenger Staff Writer

ST. ALBANS CITY — Truman's golden head hovered over and rummaged under the right wheel well of a small trailer parked outside the St. Albans City Police Department early Friday morning.
Sniff, sniff, sniff ...
Sniff, sniff, sniff ...
Less than a minute earlier, Truman's handler and friend, Joe Harrington, shook the black food pouch that hung off his right hip. "Alright," Truman thought. "Time to get to work."
Truman, a yellow Labrador retriever, started at a red pick-up truck (nothing) moved to a blue sedan (still nothing) and then his top-notch nose directed him to the trailer. When he had his target - but not until he knew - he sat and looked up at Harrington, with eyes that said, "Here it is, boss."

Harrington pulled a small can of gunpowder from under the wheel well and gave Truman his edible reward. Truman wagged his tail.

"That's great," said Ned Caron, Bellows Free Academy-St. Albans (BFA) principal. "I guess we move forward now, right? Let's do it."

"It's worth trying," said Gary t Taylor, city police chief.

When a new school year starts this fall, a passive-alert dog like Truman will regularly roam the halls of BFA and split its remaining time between the St. Albans City School and the St. Albans Town Educational Center.

Only that dog will not be trained to detect hundreds of explosive odors in five families. Instead, the yellow lab's work at BFA and the other city-based schools will involve drugs, of all kinds.

Marijuana. Cocaine. Even prescription pills.

Truman sniffs out bombs. St. Albans City's dog will sniff out bongs.

"There's certainly some sentiment that this might be a necessary thing to do," Taylor told city aldermen during their regular meeting earlier this week.
The Franklin Central Supervisory Union (FCSU) will likely be the first in Vermont to have a drug-detecting dog regularly roaming its campus, according to Taylor.

School districts that are hypersensitive to student rights and confidentiality scoff at the notion of drug dogs, but the FCSU and school administrators welcomed the idea. In an April 10 letter to city aldermen, FCSU Superintendent Bob Rosane showed "enthusiastic support" for a school drug detection program in St. Albans City.

"I see this program less as a reactive response to an illicit drug problem at the schools," Rosane wrote, "and more as a proactive opportunity to increase the community's capacity to prevent illicit drug possession and activities from taking place."

On Monday, Mayor Marty Manahan said, "We're fortunate to have someone like him (Rosane), at that level, backing something like this." The prospect of using a drug-detecting dog in city schools excite city officials, who have worked with police to battle high crime rates and staggering amounts of illegal prescription drug deals and abuse.

Officer Jason Wetherby, the city's school resource officer (SRO), will keep the drug-detecting yellow lab and train with him, either by working with a retired Vermont State Police captain - Taylor's easier and cost-effective preference - or through a weeks-long sessions in North  Carolina.

If Wetherby leaves the force, the dog either goes with him or is donated as a pet. As a last case and improbably alternative, it would be euthanized.

The city will spend $10,000 in federal grant funds on the dog and training. A federally required cruiser for the dog, along with pet food and veterinary care, will likely be covered by corporate sponsorships, according to Taylor.

With help from Connecticut State Police, the city will likely acquire its dog via the Eye Dog Foundation for the Blind, which must find homes for canine students that don't quite pass muster for their highly specialized tasks.

Like Truman, the city's dog will engage in passive alerts as part of its Pavlovian conditioning police work.  An aggressive3 alert dog - typically German Shepherds - will bark, scratch and claw when they make a find.

Passive-alert dogs, such as Truman, simply sit, though it’s not an "I'm-tired-and-need-a-rest" sit.

"The handler knows the sit,” Taylor said.

Friday morning, Collins-Perley Sports & Fitness Center Manager Dave Kimel, who also watched  Truman's demonstration, wondered how a drug dog at BFA might react to students carrying prescribed drugs, or the residue from them.

Wetherby explained that school nurses must administer prescribed drugs to students, and that students aren't allowed to carry them on school campuses.

Harrington, a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) explosives specialist, said dogs like Truman will not work unless secretly prompted by the handler. The city doesn't intend to have its dog in work mode all day long on any school campus, Taylor said.

"There are really two purposes, here," the chief said Wednesday, seated in his office. "Deterrent and enforcement. The dog will almost be a mascot at BFA, because he's so friendly and approachable. But people will know what he does, what he's trained for. That's where deterrence comes in....

"You know, there are far more good kids in the school system then there are bad kids. This (drug dog) is a unique way to do something that's never been done before."

Taylor and Harrington have known each other for years, so Taylor was familiar with Truman. The dog, now 7 years old, has seen six Super Bowls, a Republican National Convention, a Democratic National Convention, and the inauguration of President Obama - more than many Americans.

Truman even has his own ATF trading card.

"But he wouldn't know a bag of marijuana from a bail of hay," Harrington said.

Harrington thought the city's idea to use passive-alert dogs in schools was a "fantastic idea." The Mayor's Task Force on Crime, which called for more police in St. Albans City, backs the effort.

"We suggested two extra officers," said Peter DesLauriers, task force chairman and former mayor. "I guess we're getting the same number of feet."