Backing Gudge's play

YSHS Principal John Gudgel has said that he intends to use drug-sniffing dogs at the High School and McKinney Middle School. As a former criminal defense attorney, the image of police officers with dogs going from locker to locker as our children cower in the hallways sent chills up my spine the first time it occurred to me. That was years ago. And if something like that actually occurred in high schools in this country, it wouldn't surprise me. But that is not what we are talking about here.

Gudgel is a reasonable person, as are Police Chief John Grote and the members of our school board. Gudgel and Grote grew up in this town and graduated from this very same high school. They bleed Bulldog blue. No one is more dedicated to the students than Gudgel, who has devoted his life to our schools. The kids call him Gudge - he loves it. When he looks at a problem in those hallways, he sees it as an insider. He has lived his life there. When he talks about Yellow Springs High School, we should listen.

And he is talking about keeping our schools drug free and giving us the opportunity to listen. Last week the PTO sponsored an open community meeting where Gudgel informed parents of his plan and listened to parents and students. This week, on Thursday night, the school board will be holding another community meeting. No surprises - nothing going on behind our backs.

Historically, drugs have been a problem at YSHS. A few years ago, we lost one of our teenagers in a drug related homicide. That is as bad as it gets, yet some people in the village still seem to be in denial. They say we should trust our kids. But as parents, we know that sometimes we can trust our kids and sometimes we can't. And even when we can trust our own kids, there are others whom we cannot trust. It's not as much about credibility or criminality as it is about peer pressure and judgment. The kids who show up at these meetings and ask us to trust them are among trustworthy. It's the ones who wouldn't be caught within a mile of a school board meeting that we have to worry about. A few years ago we trusted and and someone died. In this case the word "trust" is a red herring.

I am in favor of drug dog searches, if they are conducted after school hours when there are no students in the building. As far as this issue is concerned, the law is settled. The school is public property and the kids have no reasonable expectation of complete privacy, even in their lockers. The searches may or may not be announced before they happen, but should be well publicized afterward. They should be a deterrent to those who would bring drugs to school. I submit that even these meetings that are currently being held may be serving as a deterrent. What student would have drugs in his locker today in view of all the publicity Gudgel's proposal and these ongoing meetings have been getting?

So let's be reasonable - smart about admitting to ourselves that there is a problem, and measured in our response to it. Let's make it known to those kids who would bring drugs to school that we are not going to tolerate that kind of behavior.

If you have views on this matter that you would like to express, or would like to learn more, show up at the meeting at Mills Lawn School this Thursday. School board meetings are usually held at 7:00 p.m. However, in an article on the front page of the YS News, it was reported that the meeting will be at 4:00 p.m., while on the calendar of events it said 7:00. I will check with the Board of Ed on Monday and post an announcement here.

FYI: A summary of case law on use of drug-sniffing dogs in schools.

This post was updated at 1:50 p.m. on 1/30/09 to include the word "complete" in the sentence on expectation of privacy and to add the case law summary at the bottom.