Board Renewing Searches By Trained Dogs at School
"Dogs trained to sniff out hidden drugs and weapons have conducted random searches at Miller Place High School for three years, finding nothing. Now the district's school board has decided to renew its contract with K-9 Search and Detection, of Manorville, to keep using the dogs.
In a 4-1 vote, the board agreed last month to continue paying the company $1,000 a month to have two German shepherd hybrids check the lockers and high school parking lot once or twice a month.
Seth Lipshie, the high school principal, said, ''We believe that it has been a proactive approach to preventing weapons and drugs from being brought to school.''
But Sean Brennan, a school board member and outspoken critic of the policy from the start, said: ''There is no measurable data to tell me that this has had any effect. It tells me either that the drug problem wasn't as bad as they said it was or that the children have figured out a way to get around the dog searches. One way or another, it has no effect.''
Miller Place, in eastern Brookhaven, began using the dogs after conducting a survey about students' experiences with illegal drugs and weapons. The district said that 23 of 1,400 students in Grades 7-12 had answered yes to the question ''While at school, have you carried a gun?''
The searches are conducted while students are in class. An administrator is always present with the dogs, and if the dogs smell anything suspicious, the administrator searches the appropriate locker or car.
Andrew Henellin, the owner of K-9 Search and Detection, said that more than a half dozen districts in Nassau and Suffolk use his company's services. He declined to name the districts, citing confidentiality reasons. ''They are using the dogs as a deterrent and sending an important message to their students,'' he said.
LINDA SASLOW
THE WEEK"