drug search at school

[hahaRainbow]

Is this legal? my ds has come home from school (state comp) where (he says) during a science class, a teacher arrived announcing that 'this is a drug free school and now we are going to have the sniffer dogs in'.

Apparently the kids were then lined up while a dog ran up and down sniffing them and another dog sniffed the classroom.

of course I'm not happy about drugs at school but I do wonder about the legalities of this and what IF a kid had been caught.... am I wrong to be worried?

I think there would be a lot of pushback on the idea of screening for sexual abuse, even if there was a form of screening that wasn't very intrusive (and no I can't think what sort of form that might take!).

Although actually it's not a bad idea. It's rife, it ruins lives, kills people, cuts through the whole of society, and is highly illegal. So a bit like drugs.

Interesting idea can't see how you would do it or that people would be comfortable with it happening though.

I would not prefer that it should be dealt with by having police swarm her school to take out the drug dealers with dogs.

In which school does this happen, kawliga?

Yes, sorry, it's the book. Most of it relates to the authorities but I was talking about the early chapters when the abusers first accessed her.

I know it isn't directly relevant but there are parallels with being in a culture where gangs run things out on the streets and people outside of that in authority turn a blind eye for various reasons including not wanting to upset the sensibilities of others and draw attention to there potentially being a problem.

This doesn't happen in my children's school, I would be unhappy if it

If drugs were rife and it was a well known area for it I would probably think completely differently

"people outside of that in authority turn a blind eye for various reasons"

This is a massive problem
Again across society
The wealthy and / or influential getting away with all sorts of stuff as well as at the other end Rotherham / Rochdale and the like

We have seen that many forces are / have been corrupt / incompetent to some extent or another over the last few years, it's been ghastly the extent of it. Of course there are other agencies as well who have failed horribly but the police are supposed to be the ultimate "good guy" and to have them be the "bad guy" or at least the "indifferent guy" in so many scandals has been, just, what can you even do with it. Where do you even put it.

Rufus

Drug use doesn't have to be "rife". If there is just one student in your DCs' school and that person sells your DC drugs, it's a problem. Please don't delude yourself that drug use is restricted to certain areas or certain schools.

Excellent post, callooh.

surburban

Didn't say there weren't any drugs at the school, I've heard rumours and logic must suggest there is drug use /dealers. I meant that they don't do drug searches

That's wasn't my point and I'm sorry that I didn't explain myself more clearly

But don't worry I'm not deluded and I'm sure that drugs are available at the vast majority of senior schools if you know the "right" person

I agree calloh.

OK, I admit I've only read about 4 pages and there's 16 of them so far (it's late and I can't be arsed to RTFT) so don't know if this has taken any mad turns in the pages I haven't read.
Just want to say though I'd have no problem with drug sniffer dogs at high school. I'd feel a bit 'eek' on hearing it as my eldest ds is a young 11, only started high school in September, and sheltered.
However, I'd rather he be safe from any shit at school like drugs and would welcome any measures brought in place to combat it if it was ever deemed necessary to bring them in!

This doesn't happen in my children's school,

Genuinely interested. How do you KNOW?!

sally

Please refer to my post at 20:33

I didn't explain myself properly, I have no doubt that there is drug use and, one assumes, dealing at the school

I know for an absolute fact there are no sniffer dogs

As I said in my 2nd post I obviously didn't explain myself properly

My problem was that I replied directly to the 'sniffer dogs' in school bit

I shouldn't be allowed to post in the evening...i get too tired and don't think properly

Its a shame that the OP never came back to clarify what did happen.

Without putting to much detail in to this.

In the schools that I have worked in we (as in all the schools, even the naice middle class ones, possibly more so the naice middles class ones) have only successfully managed to permanently exclude students that have been dealing drugs with police help.

In all other cases the pupils have been let back in on appeal.

That's because ofsted don't like schools to exclude pupils.

The kids who were excluded from DCs school counted as "on roll" until their follow on school place had been agreed.

Personally I totally agree that schools cannot exclude to just roam the streets.
We are lucky in that round here the PRU system works - but then all other areas should be copying our lead and then exclusion becomes a positive thing

TBH though I suspect the sniffer dogs are more MC than inner city as they only really work when combined with parental pressure

I've skipped to the end after page 4 so this might have been said a number of times, but the school I work in has regular drugs 'raids' which go like this...

1...something is bought to the attention of the safeguarding team, something which would indicate drugs are in school

2...the police are then asked to conduct spot checks, which are similar to raids, they burst into rooms unannounced saying 'hands on the desks, nobody move' etc.

3...the dogs do their bit

4...anyone identified by the dog is then taken out of the room and asked if they have anything to hand over

5...if a search is needed the students are taken to a separate room and then an appropriate adult (parent or they can nominate a teacher I believe) is called to witness the search