COSTA MESA, NEWPORT BEACH : Drug Hunts Extended to Middle Schools

A policy for bringing drug-sniffing dogs onto Newport Beach and Costa Mesa high school campuses was extended to include middle schools by the Newport-Mesa Unified School District board Tuesday night.

Ensign Intermediate School had requested participation, board member Rod MacMillian said, so the board agreed to authorize the searches in grades seven through 12.

Board members discussed the policy and a regulation submitted by the district’s Alcohol Drug Tobacco Abuse Advisory Committee. The board will make a final decision on the policy on Oct. 24.

The board had hoped to start the police dog sniff-searches of lockers and cars in the fall semester, but board members agreed Tuesday that it will take until the spring semester to put the plan into action. The board will evaluate the program at the end of the school year and decide whether to make it permanent.

As modified by the board, the policy and regulation include provisions to post notice of possible searches at each entrance to each campus, to include all autos on a campus in searches, not just those of students, and to respond with school discipline and rehabilitation programs rather than arrests whenever possible if drugs are found.

A plan to require a student’s presence whenever his locker or car is searched will be reconsidered as a matter of student privacy.

Board members were concerned that bringing a student out of class for any reason while the dogs were on a campus would implicate students with no drug involvement.

“It’s a great rumor-starter,” MacMillian said.

She also complained that the policy does not address alcohol or tobacco, the most abused substances among high school youths.

The board wanted a minimum and maximum number of searches per campus per school year to ensure evenhanded application of the searches.