ORANGE : Schools to Review Bus Drug Searches

The Orange Unified School District Board of Education may decide tonight whether to continue a controversial program of using police dogs to search for drugs on school buses.

“One of the things we hope to determine (at the board meeting) is whether we have accomplished our goals and whether we need to continue the program or not,” Joyce Capelle, chief financial officer for the school district, said Wednesday. “There may be a decision.”

District officials, with the help of dogs trained in drug detection, have searched three buses since Oct. 30. Students were ordered off the buses and told to leave all their possessions behind so the dog could sniff their belongings.

Board President Lila Beavans predicted that the board would decide to continue the program.

“I’m getting a lot of input from parents saying something ought to be done and they would rather have this than nothing,” Beavans said.

“It’s not my favorite way to handle student discipline, but I am sympathetic to the parent concerns about drug use. “

A number of district parents say they plan to attend tonight’s meeting to express displeasure with the fact that no public discussion of the policy took place before the searches were implemented.

“I think community members and parents have a right to know what (the district’s) policies are and to have input into those policies,” said parent Lori Dickens. “They should have to listen to us.”

The searches, which officials said have uncovered no drugs, have been described by acting Supt. Richard Donoghue as an attempt to stop students from bringing illegal substances onto school property.

The first bus to be searched was carrying students bound for Santiago Middle School and El Modena High School on the morning of Oct. 30. The search was initiated after a parent complained about alleged drug use on the vehicle, Capelle said.

Later the same day, a bus leaving Orange High School was searched by police and district officials. No further searches took place until Dec. 16, when a bus containing children from Portola Middle School was stopped.

The children, some of whom were as young as 11 years old, were not searched and did not come into contact with the police dogs.

Police Chief John R. Robertson will be making a presentation to the board tonight about how the searches are implemented and what the police dogs are trained to detect.

Another point likely to be raised during the meeting is whether school board members were informed through proper channels about the searches.

Although Donoghue has said he discussed the program with the board in closed session, at least three board members said in interviews that they were unaware of the searches.

Trustee Barry Resnick, who was board president at the time the searches were carried out, said he plans to ask both Robertson and Donoghue why trustees were not informed of the searches.

“As board president, not only do I feel I should have been briefed on this, I feel I should have also been fully briefed after each search,” Resnick said. “Once the first search was done it became a public issue.”