Dog patrol could be useful curb on drugs
When considering the permitting of drug-sniffing dogs on school campuses, it helps to remember one thing: These are kids we're talking about. The point is not that they have no rights, it's that the children who are the innocent bystanders also have the right to a drug-free learning environment.
So it's a question of balance. At what point will the gains made by a more aggressive anti-drug policy outweigh the losses students feel from the intrusion of the canine narcotics squad?
The regulations governing student privacy now states that students' "expectation of privacy extends to their persons and personal effects as well as school property assigned for their individual use."
A proposal to change that expectation — long overdue — is coming up for a series of hearings; it's part of a slate of rule revisions the Board of Education is considering (follow the link online at www.boe.k12.hi.us for details and schedules).
In the proposed change to the Chapter 19 disciplinary code, the school officials could use the dogs as a tool to find contraband. Students could no longer have any expectation of privacy in school lockers. That's reasonable, considering that the lockers are the property, and the liability, of the schools.
To go further with searching students themselves, officials would then need reasonable suspicion, providing needed protection to student privacy.
Critics do have a point, however, about the lack of limitation on which schools can employ the dogs. The proposal currently draws no distinction between secondary and elementary schools as places where the dog patrols can happen; some kind of restriction should be considered. Where younger children are concerned, there may be more to lose than gain by the intrusion of the canine corps.
And there will be a need to cover holes and vents in lockers through which a prankster could plant evidence.
School families surely will have other ideas for improvements. The hearings starting Monday will provide a chance to take a stand on a core community concern: keeping our kids safe at school.
