Drugs dogs in school!

[HappilyHadesBound]

For background, my daughter is disabled and has a lot of medication as a result.

Apparently there is a significant problem in the town my children attend school with cocaine being used and sold by teenagers. As a result, the school today (and without warning to parents) brought in the police with drugs dogs. They did whole year assemblies and during hers my daughter was picked out by the dog.

It was all sorted out with the policeman afterwards with no issue, she had some Co-codamol with her which is prescribed by the doctor for her, and the staff are happy too.

The problem is that her entire year group of more than 300 kids (as well as staff) witnessed this! I'm devastated for her. She gets bullied already for so many reasons, and now the kids all think she's a druggie and the comments she's had today are horrific!

AIBU to say that this was completely inappropriate of school to do? I can understand their reasoning for not informing parents, but they could at least warned families like ours.

I'll reiterate that I'm completely confident she is not on illegal drugs, but she's devastated about this.

I think that was very badly handled.

The dog alerting to your DD could have been made in to a learning point - that dogs really do detect these drugs, even when they are wholly legitimate prescription drugs

Or if DD did not want to be centre of attention, or explain her medication, then she should have been allowed to sit it out.

The school needs to get on to those making derogatory comments asap. They should have had a plan for how they would handle the aftermath of a dog alerting (whether in error, for prescription drugs or for reasons of concern) and identifying a pupil in such a public way.

Ask to see it, and see if they are following it

Well the school put her in the situation so it's up to them to get the bullies in a room and tell them that any more comments to your dd on this will be treated as seriously as they can do under their behaviour policy.

It doesn't sound like the school is complying with its anti-bullying policy either.

By the sounds of it, anyone identified was taken out and spoken to by the policeman and staff. I don't know what happened to any of the others beyond that as obviously my dd was ok.

I mean that's another issue entirely, they are terrible at dealing with that.

I know it isn’t always so simple but if she’s bullied so badly can you take her out the school? Horrible way to spend your days.

She misses so much school because of her health as it is unfortunately

Should she have actually had co codamol on her though rather than in the office?
I'm impressed by the dogs I have to say.
I don't think it's that big a deal, yab a bit unreasonable.

Your poor daughter
IMO this is just an unfortunate set of circumstances. I’d be mortified for my DD but happy that the school is cracking down on a much bigger problem.

I worked as the medical officer in a high school for many years.

It was a strongly enforced rule that no student carried medication on them. Except type diabetics and epi pens obviously.

There is absolutely no need for any student to carry any medication, just not necessary when it can be left in the medical office. If it’s a 4 hourly med then it’s only going to be taken once in a school day so no biggy to just go get it where if is being kept safely.

Your daughter might be very sensible but other may not be. We had an incident of a girl stealing prescribed meds from another girls bag and selling them in the playground. Police were involved and it was obviously a serious safeguarding incident. Any student caught with as much as a paracetamol after that risked suspension.

The school sound like they are pretty inept at safegaurding their students generally.

YABU. I would rather my child attended a school where drugs were identified and rooted out. I don't expect many pupils will risk drugs in school now. Your daughter should not be carrying medicines on her no matter the circumstances. They could easily be lost and someone else suffer the consequences.
It's regrettable that she was singled out but not the end end of the world - nothing that cannot be sorted out and the dog showed how good it is at its job.

As I said, it's considered a reasonable adjustment for her disability. It's a huge site and walking to the medical room can cause a lot of pain as well as a lot of lesson time missed. She never carries more than one or two doses.

I don't think the issue is drug ,dogs in school it's how the situation has been handled and still being handled ,I would be wanting a meeting with school ,your daughter should nor be singled out and labelled a " druggie " due to her disabilities, its bullying .

That's really not on. My high school in California started having drug dogs on campus when I was in high school. Parents were informed that there were going to be random checks and students weren't in the room when the dogs checked our backpacks.

What is the dog alerted on someone who became violent upon being caught out? It just seems ill thought out. Also from what I remember the dog alerted on kids who were straight edge and the known drug users/dealers never seemed to get caught out .

I also find it surprising she is allowed them on her In school, her teacher could
request the office bring them to her when needed?

The bullying needs to be dealt with but k absolutely disagree that she should have been given prior warning/pulled out of the activity. As far as the school are concerned she’s as much at risk of carrying illegal drugs as any other student is. It’s the same as when they bring in the metal detector, what would be the point of warning one kid, they would then tell a friend, who would tel another and before you know it everything is hidden ready to be picked up later.

I understand that the dogs' visit had unintended consequences for your DD - including embarrassment and peer reactions.

However, drugs are an enormous issue in schools - and cocaine is on the rise - county lines have brought this to many many schools. The damage this drug does is horrific. I wish they had done this at my kids' school.

I know you think your DD only has the low strength codeine from over the counter but this stuff is pretty addictive hence why you can only buy it in small quantities for short term use and often get a grilling from a pharmacist. I don't think she should be carrying it around with her in school - this should be kept in a nurse's office etc and should be from now on.

There are a number of reasons for this - including ensuring other pupils don't get hold of them by taking her bag etc etc.

But with a metal detector they're would have a plan in place for kids who they know would trip it- they should've done the same for kids they know are prescribed opioids.

I understand why you’re upset OP but I think unfortunately it’s one of those things where neither party is being unreasonable

This isn’t the issue. The issue is the schools failure to deal with her bullying. That is horrid for her. Thanks would go back to the school to see what can be done to support her final terms

One of my kids recently had knife arch (metal detector) searches at school. We were informed on advance it would happen without being told the exact date. I would feel uncomfortable about drug searches, is that legal if no suspicion? The letter emailed to us said: The screening does not constitute a lawful search, but will be seen as a condition of entry or exit into the school.Any pupil refusing to co-operate with the screening will be dealt with by a senior member of the school staff. Should any knives or offensive weapons be found, following consultation with the school, police action will be taken.If staff find any other inappropriate items such as smoking paraphernalia or vapes then these items will be confiscated and disposed of and the relevant (school name) sanction
^^

Not lawful, but a condition of entry? Wow

It’s likely the dog would have indicated on her even if she had left the tablets elsewhere, if she carries and uses them regularly. These dogs have extremely sensitive noses and can detect trace amounts of cocaine on cash, they pick up the scent of a joint someone smoked hours ago etc. They are brilliant at what they do.

Was she the only person to be picked out of her whole year group?

Im surprised she is allowed to carry this medication on her and it not be kept a safe place ..school office or medical room .
I do hope she's ok

I copied and pasted their wording but I took it to mean it's not meeting the legal criteria for a stop and search in public so is condition of entry into school building (on that day) like searching on way into museum/football stadium etc is.

To be fair to the police they did some other engagement activities like a workshop on self defence.

But it seems a bit off to come in and search children, I didn't think that was legal but perhaps someone knows better than me...I would have expected the police to until done if the recent hate crime palavas and that illegal strip search of girl in her school

I actually feel really uncomfortable about the idea of drugs dogs sniffing out pupils publicly for illicit drugs. Some kids are experimenting and pushing boundaries and this may be an effective method, but there is huge scope for very vulnerable youngsters to be identified and put at further risk. Gangs, county lines, family issues, addiction etc

Those pupils need to be identified and supported, with professional intervention, not pointed out in front of their peers.
And what happened to your daughter is just awful. Poor girl.

The dogs could be used with ‘planted’ drugs by the officers as a learning exercise, but I don’t like the idea of spot checks on the school premises.