School board holding firm on drug dogs -Marin IJ - March 19, 2006 by Don Speich

marinij.com/news/ci_3618840
School board holding firm on drug dogs
Marin IJ - March 19, 2006 by Don Speich



Under fire from civil rights groups, trustees of the Sausalito Marin City School District have broadened Monday's public hearing on the use of drug-sniffing dogs to include a report on the legal justification of the practice.
Board president George Stratigos also made it clear Friday that a majority of the trustees will not back away from the contentious use of dogs at the district's 38-student Martin Luther King Jr. middle school in Marin City.

Terri Harris Green, a district parent and a member of the Marin City Community Services District board, said it was evident from Stratigos' statement that the board "is stuck in cement."

"This does not make for good community relations. I really hate what is happening. We have people who we voted to represent us, and they don't want to hear from us."

The American Civil Liberties Union has called on the district to end the program because it "lacks a legitimate basis."

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has launched an investigation into the district out of concern the practice would violate the civil rights of students.

Stratigos said the board was open to hearing from critics. But, he added, after trustees hear from their lawyer and implement whatever adjustments are needed to assure its legality, "it is pretty clear that a majority are pretty steadfast" about keeping the policy.

Originally, the special meeting was called to allow district parents, most of them from Marin City, to voice opinions about the program.

Many parents and students have been sharply critical of the program and criticized the board for not hearing from them before the plan was adopted in November.

The


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Advertisement


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



board president said he was encouraging parents and others to come not only with complaints about the drug dog program but with possible "solutions" to drug problems in Marin City.

If, for example, a parent says, "'I know all the drug dealers in town,'" Stratigos said, "then give us a list of names."

Under the program, Interquest Detection Canines of Houston will perform monthly inspections of the middle school. In January, the company brought the dogs to the school to introduce them to students who, under the program, will leave their classrooms while the dogs sniff their backpacks and other personal belongings. Inspections are to continue until the end of the school year at a cost of $2,500.

Trustees have said they have no evidence of drugs at the school but that they want the dogs to reassure them. Also, Stratigos has explained, trustees want the school to have a clean bill of health so a new superintendent, expected by July, will know there is nothing in the way of the district's march to academic excellence.

Contact Don Speich via e-mail at dspeich@marinij.com

IF YOU GO

Monday's Sausalito Marin City School District hearing on the use of drug-sniffing dogs at the Martin Luther King Academy Jr. in Marin City begins at 7 p.m. in the multipurpose room of Bayside School at 630 Nevada St. in Sausalito.