Canine teams will start randomly searching Loudoun County, Virginia, high schools next month, Superintendent Aaron Spence said, as part of a plan to deter students from bringing illegal substances onto school campuses.
The scans, which will be conducted through a partnership with the Loudoun County Sheriff鈥檚 Office and Leesburg Police, are scheduled to start in March. Students won鈥檛 be told about them in advance, but the school district said it will communicate with students’ families once the scans are done.
The program comes amid concerns about suspected student opioid overdoses and the popularity of other substances, including vaping devices.
The concept of bringing canine teams into schools isn鈥檛 new. In 1989, for example, Fairfax County Public Schools announced plans to use drug-sniffing dogs in schools, .
However, a Fairfax County schools spokeswoman said that program isn鈥檛 in place in Virginia鈥檚 largest school district anymore. Arlington Public Schools also doesn鈥檛 have a program similar to the one Loudoun is launching, a spokesman there said.
Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland鈥檚 largest school district, has a memorandum of understanding with the county鈥檚 police department. But a school division spokesman said it doesn鈥檛 鈥渞eference or provide for random canine scans of our schools.鈥�
Nonetheless, Loudoun County leaders are hopeful the sweeps will serve as an effective deterrent.
鈥淲e鈥檙e sending the message that we mean business. This is serious, we need to take this seriously,鈥� said Dan Adams, a Loudoun schools spokesman. 鈥淭he kids need to keep this stuff out of our schools, and keep it out of their homes and keep it out of their pockets, because this is some really dangerous stuff.鈥�
As part of the planned scans, the dog units will walk through common spaces and unoccupied classrooms. They won鈥檛 be 鈥済oing up to kids and sniffing their pockets or anything like that,鈥� Adams said.
Michele Bowman, spokeswoman for the Leesburg Police Department, said the dogs will be searching for illegal narcotics, but they鈥檙e not trained to search for marijuana.
The school division is anticipating the sweeps will take about an hour and a half, with minimal disruption to class time.
The program, Bowman said, has been in the works for months.
If a dog alerts an officer to a substance it discovers, police will have the opportunity to search lockers, Bowman said. She described a false positive alert as 鈥渧ery unlikely.鈥�
The school district will evaluate the program鈥檚 effectiveness at the end of the school year and consider whether to implement it again next fall.
Adams, with the school division, said it鈥檚 one step the county is taking to address what he called a 鈥渃risis in our community.鈥�
鈥淭his isn’t an issue where we’re going to be able to ‘consequence’ our way out of it,鈥� Adams said. 鈥淭here’s not going to be a magic fix.鈥�
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