Teens react to drug search

Salem Editor — Wed, 02 May 2007 17:07:00 GMT

Angela Tsoumbanikas, 17, doesn’t mind that police bring drug-sniffing dogs through her school. Or that administrators search student lockers where the dogs indicate drugs might be found.

“They’re OK. I don’t think they do them enough,” said the Pelham High School sophomore. “Drugs aren’t my thing.”

Tsoumbanikas and the rest of the school’s students were evacuated from the building on Friday, April 20, the day before their spring vacation.

While they waited outside for about an hour, police officers led canines through the building in a search for narcotics.

Administrators opened and searched several areas, including hallway lockers, after dogs “hit” on them – pressing their paws against them, trying to get at something. No drugs were found.

Several cars were also “hit.” One girl was suspended for having cigarettes on her and in her car and for parking at school without a permit.

Marijuana was found in a car driven by a 16-year-old boy. A bottle of vodka was discovered in the car of a 17-year-old student.

Both boys received suspensions. Neither was formally charged by police, although the 16-year-old is being required to take a program known as the Challenger Course, an educational program for youth about substances and substance abuse.

The surprise drug searches are typically conducted once a year. The dogs do not search students, who are usually gathered in the gymnasium or directed to go outside.

Administrators do not need permission to search lockers, but they must get permission to search vehicles.

Several students acknowledge they know little about what administrators and police do when the searches are conducted. One student mistakenly assumed that all lockers are opened and searched.

Many of them, such as Corey Peterson, 15, a freshman, said they are not bothered by the searches.

“I don’t mind it,” said Corey, who said he watched through a window as police finished their work in the parking lot after students were allowed back into the building.

“It doesn’t bother me because I don’t do drugs,” said another first-year student, Cameron Robidoux, 15. “If they’re dumb enough to bring it in, that’s their problem.”

Krystyna Nelson, 17, a senior, said she thinks officials “overdo it.” She doesn’t like that administrators search cars.

“If you drive a car here, it’s yours,” she said.

Nelson believes the search was deliberately held on April 20 to coincide with the 420 Campaign, which seeks to pressure Congress to legalize marijuana. Officials have denied this.

Jared Lowell, 19, a senior, said it bothers him that officials feel they need to conduct searches in school. He thinks it reflects poorly on the school and he’d like to see it done after school when it would draw less attention.

Others fully embrace the idea of searches.

“I think it’s one of the best things the school does,” said Scott Cloutier, 16, a junior. “Not just for the kids who deal but for all the kids’ safety. I don’t want to be near it.”

Mike Crooker, 18, a junior, said he’s not surprised the searches are done. Many students use drugs and he’d like to see more searches done.

But the students with drugs are likely to have them on them rather than store them in their lockers, he said.

“If they’re going to search, they might as well search the kids,” he said. “It makes a lot more sense.”

Pelham News : student, drugs

Teens react to drug search