The Dexter Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Principal signs off on K-9 searches
By Sean Dalton, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: February 28, 2008
Dexter High School Principal Kit Moran wants folks to spread the word:
Advertisement
Don't bring narcotic substances into his building or even onto the property.
In the coming months Washtenaw County Sheriff's Department K-9 units will possibly be paying a surprise visit to the school and sniffing out illegal substances.
"We might do it later than that," Moran said. "The point is to do it without any notice."
Moran said he hopes his students will reconsider putting themselves in a situation where such searches lead to evidence of drug possession.
"The concept is deterrence," he said. "The more people talk about it around us, the more it is a deterrent. I don't want to find anything, but if a student has it, we will."
School policy states that a student found with narcotics will receive at least a 10-day suspension with the option of reducing the period to three days with counseling.
Drug dealers, on the other hand, are typically expelled with zero wiggle room.
Moran admits that he doesn't want to lose any of his students to such behavior, but the number of drug and paraphernalia finds in school bathrooms and elsewhere has forced him into action.
"What we would like to do is use the K-9 searches as instruments for us to avoid this situation," he said. "The officers aren't in a big hurry to come to school and drag anyone off."
According to Moran, a team of three or four K-9 officers would comprise the search force, assisted by staff and support officers from local police agencies.
The authorization paperwork is already signed and in place, he said.
Moran has discussed the matter with the Board of Education twice - once in December and again last month, during which the board seemed more receptive.
Washtenaw County Sheriff's Deputy Paul Mobbs made an appearance to assuage the board's concerns.
According to Mobbs, the dogs would be brought in on days designated as training, they are safe around children and are kept on leashes.
"The only thing kids will see is a dog walking down a hall by a classroom - that's all you'll see," he said.
Board Vice President Michael Wendorff said he was fine with the searches as long as "we're in the classrooms and the dogs are in the hallways."
Julie Schumaker continued to question the fact that student backpacks will be in classrooms and how that will play into the searches.
Dexter High School students apparently aren't fond of using lockers, according to the board.
The board also pointed out that a policy on vehicle searches is in the student handbook, so there would be no surprises there.
"The dogs can be alert to the most minute odor of drugs from the day before, which would give indicators," Mobbs said.
"We're not going to catch everybody, but if the drugs are there, so will the smell."
Anything police find during a search would be turned over to the school administration first for review before officers took action, according to Mobbs.
"How far am I going to take it? We have to look at the totality of what is going on," he said. "It could take five months to get results from the crime lab and juvenile court could take three months, whereas the administration could hand down three- to 10-day suspensions immediately."
Aside from those logistical concerns, Mobbs said he isn't interested in "busting kids."
"We want to get it out of there so kids can learn, and that's it," he said. "Our concern is what's best for the kids."
School Board Treasurer Dick Lundy said he would rather "err on the side of being aggressive."
"(I want to) make sure that the kids who want to be there have our support," he said.
Moran and Mobbs both said that they expect students, if caught, to 'fess up quickly and that in most cases, parents would be called to let them know that their child alerted a search dog with a smell on their person or property.
"We're not doing this to bust two kids during lunchtime," Moran said. "Nothing would make me happier than to find nothing."
He said that if nothing else, he would like to be able to say he did something about drugs as an administrator, at the very least.
"When this happens there will come a time when we call them, and it won't be down to the minute," Moran said.
"We'll have a window and then a lockdown. It will probably be at least an hourlong procedure."
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
Expanded
Web
Coverage
TOP JOBS
