Board Oks Drug Dog

In Schools

By Laurie Borst

The Board of Education voted August 15 to accept a new policy regarding the use of a drug-sniffing dog in the high school and middle school, following a review last month of a similar document written by the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education (CABE).

Superintendent Evan Pitkoff and board members Lisa Schwartz and Tom Gissen worked this past month to write a policy specifically for the Newtown School District. Minor changes in wording and spelling were made to the document at Tuesday’s meeting.

Board Secretary Andrew Buzzi added two statements to the policy. One dealt with acknowledging the school board’s civic responsibility to address safety issues within the schools. The other statement concerned keeping the policy effective if any piece of it is determined to be illegal or unenforceable.

 “We don’t want our students to think that they can be searched anytime, anywhere, any place for any reason because that is not consistent with our government,” Mr Buzzi explained. “I want to be able to use the tools available to us consistent with the Connecticut and US Constitutions.”

The policy outlines the procedures for a canine search which include: printing the policy in the student handbook; who may authorize a search; who must be present during a search; dogs may not search individuals; only the canine handler can determine what constitutes an alert by the dog; opening a vehicle the dog has “alerted on”; notification of student and his/her parents if the dog alerts on the student’s car or locker; and procedures if an illegal substance is found.

Paul Mangiafico, school board member, asked what would happen in the event of an alert on a vehicle and the student would not cooperate in opening the vehicle.

Newtown Chief of Police Michael Kehoe was at the meeting and answered the question. “If we have probable cause, we can use mechanical means to open the car, if it can be done safely. Or we can seize the car and get a search warrant,” the chief explained.

During public participation, a dozen citizens spoke to the issue of the drug dog, and most favored the policy.