Pubdate: Mon, 04 Nov 2002
Source: Surrey Now (CN BC)
Copyright: 2002 Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc., A Canwest Company
Contact:  http://www.thenownewspaper.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1462
Author: Ted Colley

DRUG DOGS TURN UP OPPOSITION

The fight is on over a Surrey school board proposal to have drug-sniffing 
dogs checking lockers as part of a plan to control illicit drug use in 
Surrey schools.

The proposal was voiced Monday night by trustee Heather Stilwell during a 
presentation to city council by members of the city's drug-crime task 
force. The locker searches would be part of a zero-tolerance policy on 
drugs, she added.

Stilwell said the idea of bringing in the dogs is in the very preliminary 
stages of consideration. The district is looking at what's been done in 
other jurisdictions, she said, and consulting legal counsel.

Stilwell said the board has to decide if dog searches will be random or 
scheduled, who will open suspect lockers and whether students and parents 
should be required to sign a document giving the district permission to 
search lockers.

"When that's all done, if it still seems doable, we'll start work on an 
official policy. We'll have discussions with all the stakeholders, the DPAC 
and the like, and then put together a policy," Stilwell said.

"I don't see it happening this school year."

The district already has a zero-tolerance policy on violence with penalties 
ranging from suspension to expulsion, and the drug policy would likely take 
a similar approach, she said.

Stilwell also said a private company would be used to carry out the dog 
patrols, not police.

"Police have to have probable cause to go in and they don't have the 
manpower. If a principal thinks he has a problem in his school, we want him 
to be able to get it done."

The plan was attacked by drug and alcohol counsellor Chris Silvester, who 
is campaigning for a school board seat. Silvester dismissed the whole thing 
as an attempt by the Surrey Electors Team board members to win votes on 
Nov. 16.

"They should have been educating kids about drugs. You don't use 
zero-tolerance to punish kids, you educate them. If you tell people about 
the negative effects of drugs, they'll make healthy choices," he said. 
Stilwell said anti-drug programs have been offered in Surrey schools for 
years and more are being studied with an eye to including them.

"If there have been any failures, it's that we have had programs over the 
years without really knowing if they've been effective. We've been getting 
at that for the last three years. We're right now doing assessments, 
finding out what's out there and what works."

Silvester also worried kids who simply experiment with drugs could end up 
being tossed out of school and missing out on their education. That's one 
of a number of issues the board wants to study, Stilwell said.

"That's why any policy has to be crafted very carefully. It doesn't seem to 
me to be a sensible way the policy could be written; we have a 
responsibility to educate these kids," she said. "I don't know, it's a 
blank page at this stage."
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