By Diane Lee
Staff Writer
The Manhattan Beach Unified School District school board authorized a new drug prevention policy at its Dec. 8 meeting that will authorize drug sniffing dogs to search Mira Costa classrooms in order to discourage students from bringing drugs, alcohol, and weapons on to campus.
Dr. Rocky Wilson, People Attaining Complete Equality advisor and math teacher, first developed the plan when he realized that Mira Costa is one of the few schools in the area with drug dogs that do not search classrooms. He presented his idea to Mira Costa Principal Ben Dale during a meeting in October.
“I was very surprised and impressed because it is rare that a community group would support such a bold move,” Dale said. “I believe that the community support speaks for the commitment and partnership between the city of Manhattan Beach and Mira Costa and helps to ensure a drug-free environment.”
Wilson then introduced the plan to the school board, where the board unanimously voted to authorize it. Prior to this policy, the dogs were allowed to search most areas of the campus, such as locker halls, but never the classrooms specifically.
“The reason we authorized this plan is not because there has been a sudden increase in the amount of students who are bringing drugs to school,” school board President Bill Fournell said. “We authorized it because it is a program that will strengthen the policy we had before.”
The new program will be implemented in the spring. Random rooms will be chosen, and administrators will ask students to step outside their classrooms for a few minutes while the drug dogs search inside for harmful and illegal materials or substances. Students will be required to leave their backpacks and personal belongings in the classroom.
“All canine visits are random, and only the company knows what days they will come. Even the Costa staff won’t know what day the visits are,” Wilson said.
The drug dogs are trained to detect scents of not only controlled substances, but also alcoholic beverages and explosives, including flammable liquids.
Wilson hopes that these features will help to make the campus safer and send the message that MBUSD takes a zero-tolerance stance on drugs, alcohol and weapons.
“Even if this new program just discourages one student from using drugs, I feel like it will still have been a success,” math teacher Linda Gesualdi said.
However, some students believe that the program is an infrigement on their rights, as earlier, their personal belongings were not searched.
“If you look at the backbone of the idea, you are using an animal as as tool against a teenage student at a public school.” said junior Connor Toscano. “Such measures should only be used if the drugs are suspected of being used on campus, not possession.”
This program will be reviewed at the end of the year in June and discussed by administrators. If they decide that it has been successful, the plan will be renewed for following years.
“If a student will think twice about bringing illegal substances on campus, it will be proof that the new drug dog plan has worked,” Dale said.
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