To sniff or not to sniff? This week's RTM School Board meeting won't be without controversy as a motion voted on last month on whether to keep the contract that provides drug-sniffing dogs hung along party lines. Republicans voting to renew the contract, while Democrats voting not to. One source citing that the drug-sniffing dogs violated constitutional rights. With one board member absent, the vote was deadlocked.
A call to action of sorts is being organized for any parent who has concerns that the board does not pass on the renewal of this item. This will take place Thursday (10/25) at Penncrest RTM School Board meeting (7:30p).
For those who have reached out to me who have asserted:
"This is irresponsible for ANY adult to vote against the protection of illegal drugs coming into our schools. A vote to not allow detection (a 'no' vote), is a vote that advocates distribution of illegal drugs WITHOUT RESPONSIBILITY. It also signals that the district would be loosening controls on contraband, and that is NOT the message that should be sent to impressionable teenagers."
I'm completely aghast that anyone would vote no. False positives can be determined by searching. No one has the constitutional right to bring illegal drugs to school. Get real.
ReplyDeleteSeale and Kelly should be fired from RTM
ReplyDelete"When a school elects to bring in the police or that kind of thing, it gives a very negative message to the students," says Kris Bosworth, a scholastic drug-prevention expert at the University of Arizona in Tucson. "It says that we don't trust them, and that there's something going on that's wrong."
ReplyDeleteSource - https://www.csmonitor.com/1999/0607/p2s2.html
Most parents would agree that while they trust their kid having a deterent in the school - well it's probably not a bad idea shame on the board members who voted NO
DeleteI know young people who were lost to addiction while in their teens
Sorry but your tired old 1999 rhetoric doesn't fly in the wake of the 2018 opioid epidemic....
DeleteSorry Anon Oct 25th @ 4:06, but the last 40 years of the "War on Drugs" called and said it doesn't fly. You cannot law enforce your way out of addiction and abuse.
Deletehttps://www.aclu-wa.org/blog/drug-sniffing-dogs-schools-make-every-student-suspect
So as addicting as opioids are Seale and Kelly are fine allowing these drugs to inadvertently enter are school and allow further addiction to spread through the student body among students on the edge
ReplyDeleteMaybe RTM is so high end and exclusive now drug use just doesn't exist ?
Further Reading:
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detection_dog
Just wondering, is there research or other evidence to show that drug-sniffing dogs are 1) an effective deterrent to the presence of drugs in schools, and 2) an effective intervention to reduce drug use among high school students? We can argue all day about feelings/ideology, but I prefer to review what actually works.
ReplyDelete