NEWPORT BEACH/COSTA MESA : Drug-Sniffing Dogs to Be Kept on Duty in Schools
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A controversial test program that brought drug-sniffing dogs into schools this year was a success and will be repeated for the 1995-96 term, Newport-Mesa Unified School District trustees said Tuesday.
No drugs were found in sniff-searches of lockers, gym locker rooms and parking lots, said Lynne Bloomberg, the district’s drug, alcohol and tobacco education coordinator. And the searches yielded just 10 “alerts” in which a dog signals that a locker might have contained drugs at one time.
Searches were done quarterly at each of the district’s high schools and at Ensign Intermediate School.
Administrators were pleased with the mechanics of the program and reported that being a “clean school” became a banner achievement among students during the semester, Bloomberg said.
The plan for random scent-searches by dog teams from the Newport Beach and Costa Mesa police departments raised a storm of protest in October, when the board first considered it.
Bloomberg said protests died down quickly, however, after she met with students and community groups to explain the plan.
“It has helped to make our campuses safer,” she said.
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