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High school drug raids are insult to students

The Ottawa Citizen | June 12, 2004

On May 27, students at Immaculata High School were locked in their classrooms while the Ottawa police and a dog from the K-9 unit searched lockers and individual students for marijuana.

This "lockdown," a term appropriated from the federal penitentiary system, is conducted under the Ottawa-Carleton Catholic School Board's policy known as the safe schools code of conduct -- secure school protocol.

It is based solely upon suspicion, and persecutes students in ensuring what the school refers to as "discipline." The objective is to keep school a "crime-free zone" as all public, private or residential places should be, while at the same time doing so "with respect and civility."

While the police broke into lockers suspected of containing marijuana, the sniffer dog entered classrooms and was encouraged to sniff students' chairs. If the scent of marijuana was detected, the student was called into the class and physically searched.

I was assured by one teacher that classes were picked at random; however, another faculty member told me that alternative and applied classes are usually targeted.

Afterwards, no explanation was given to the students about what had happened.

Why does our school have no trust in or respect for its students? Under Canadian law, everyone is innocent until proven guilty, so this procedure is in direct contradiction of that.

It is also a waste of police resources to have officers and dogs pursuing minor crimes. There is a possibility of errors that would lead to someone being wrongfully accused. That happened in 2002 at a high school in Orleans, when a Grade 10 student's jacket was sniffed out by the dog. Although no marijuana was found, the boy was suspended and the infraction recorded.

Marijuana is a substance already used widely by Canadians. I believe that marijuana should not be used during school hours, but I also believe in students' right to privacy and lifestyle choice. Rather than offering a safe and stimulating environment to students, many of whom are troubled or a little bored, the school board has created a hostile environment of fear.

Maggie Euteneier,
17,
Ottawa

[Suetaznote: Good to see teenagers speaking out and voicing their opinions. She sounds a lot more sensible than the government. This gives me hope for the future to see a teenager like this that sounds so much smarter than the adult poplulation. ]

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Blitzed King

The students in Canada need to be left alone and allowed to live their lives. We should not have to worry about police coming to our school and searching through our lockers randomly. I think it's kind of strange that this is a requirement and they had no reason other than suspicion to search those lockers and check the student. The police took this too far. A kid at my school was caught dealing, and the teachers searched his locker, nothing was found, the kids he was dealing to were given a warning (me being one of them), and the dealer was asked to (not expelled) leave the school, with a possibility of returning in later years. The police were not notified, they did not get involved, and it wasn't a big deal. It's kind of pathetic how the police in Ottawa have no respect for the students' privacy and can't trust them.
FTP!

clitwarrior

yeah its bull****, i think everyone should put their own lock on their lockers and not the school issued ones. also i'd say its a bad idea to keep it in your locker in the first place, in case someone tries to rob you, smells it etc.

Blitzed King

i had my own lock, and I forgot to take it home one summer, I left it locked on my locker, and they snipped it off with huge snippers and handed it to me on the first day of school.