Pubdate: Tue, 09 Dec 2008
Source: Beaumont Enterprise (TX)
Copyright: 2008 Beaumont Enterprise
Contact:  http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1024
Author: Emily Guevara
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?237 (Drug Dogs)

DRUGS DOG HOUSTON TEACHERS; ALL QUIET IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS

It's either good living or good hiding that is keeping  Southeast 
Texas teachers and students out of the drug  spotlight.

A series of teacher drug arrests in the Houston  Independent School 
District prompted its  superintendent, Abelardo Saavedra, to call for 
drug  dogs to visit all campus employee parking lots in the  coming 
weeks, the Houston Chronicle reported Tuesday.

But, Southeast Texas school officials say they have had  few 
drug-related incidents involving employees,  rendering drug testing 
and drug searches unwarranted.

"We've never seen an indication that there is a problem  with our 
employees," said Gail Krohn, superintendent  for Nederland ISD. "I 
suspect if we did see a problem  that our board would take that into 
consideration and  make that step forward."

All seven Jefferson County school districts have school  board 
policies that allow for "reasonable" searches  related to drug and 
alcohol use on the part of both  students and employees. But few 
districts make use of  the policy on a regular basis or have a 
drug-testing  policy in place.

In Hamshire-Fannett ISD, Superintendent Keith Elliott  said the 
school district has had few drug-related  incidents. He said that 
drug dogs were brought to the  campuses in the past, but that hasn't 
happened in a few  years.

"I'm not naive to say, hey, there's not drugs on any  campus," said 
Elliott, who has been with the district  for 16 years. "Normally, if 
(drugs) do come on campus,  we do get information and we follow it up."

In the Nederland Independent School District, it was  the presence of 
drug-related incidents that caused the  board to implement a random 
drug-testing policy about  four years ago.

Krohn said the policy curtailed drug-related incidents  and improved 
student behavior.

During the 2003-04 school year, fifth-through  12th-grade students 
committed 36 drug and  alcohol-related offenses, she said.

That number grew to 42 in 2004-05, and 52 in 2006-07.  Last year, the 
district saw it drop significantly to 16  offenses.

"We feel like this is just one way we can help kids,  give kids a 
reason to say no to drugs," she said.

The district has not seen fit to spread the program to  school 
employees with the exception of bus drivers, who  must receive drug 
tests because of federal law.

The drug dogs that periodically search campuses are  brought in 
primarily to deal with possible student  offenses at the middle 
school and high school, she  said.

"I don't know of any school district that does drug  testing for 
employees," she said.

Texas Education Code does not address drug testing or  searches 
specifically, said Texas Education Agency  Communications Director 
Debbie Ratcliffe.

She said it's not a common practice to drug test  education employees 
even though other professions do  so. She said the new fingerprinting 
law, which requires  teachers, support staff and some volunteers to 
get  national criminal history background checks, will  partly 
address the issue.

"If somebody had a drug arrest or conviction, that  would pop up when 
their criminal history was done so  (the) school would have that to 
go by," she said.

Beaumont school district police Chief Clydell Duncan  said that since 
the department's inception in 2007,  there have no reports of staff 
members with illegal  drugs on campus. He said there have been 
between five  and six cases of students with illegal drugs, whether a 
prescription drug or marijuana.

"We really have not gotten any information that would  cause us to 
bring in dogs to check out (a) school,"  Duncan said by phone. "I 
think if you had incidents  based upon a number that Houston has had 
- - they had 12  employees - I think that would justify having a more 
aggressive program."

Beaumont school district spokeswoman Jolene Ortego said  drug dogs 
were used, on occasion, in the past, but have  not been on campus in 
several years.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom