DOGS TO HELP RID SCHOOLS OF DRUGS; CANINES TO MAKE SWEEPS OF LOCKERS, CLASSROOMS IN HART DISTRICT.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

There will be dogs on campus this year, and they won't be going to obedience school. These specially trained canines will be visiting local high schools and junior highs to make sure the students behave.

Classes will resume Tuesday in the William S. Hart Union High School District, where the board of education voted earlier this year to hire a Modesto-based company to make surprise sweeps through school lockers and classrooms, looking for illicit drugs, alcohol, tobacco and weapons.

The dogs will alert officials of these and other contraband students shouldn't possess on or off campus. The offenders could face suspension or expulsion from Hart district schools, or even arrest by the Sheriff's Department, if found with any of the prohibited items.

A series of assemblies will be held beginning Sept. 15 at each high school and its feeder junior high on the same day. The assemblies, which will conclude Sept. 18, will outline the reasons for the program and how it will be implemented, so students will know in advance the risks of bringing contraband on campus.

The unannounced canine visits could begin as soon as Sept. 21, said Mike Allmandinger, the district's administrator of student services.

District officials, and school board members who approved the plan, hope the danger of being caught will be just the incentive for youths to come clean to school.

``We feel justified in taking this step,'' Allmandinger said. ``Just the sheer numbers of kids found with controlled substances indicates to us that another step needs to be taken.''

Some students this month bristled at the impending disciplinary measure.

``They're allowed to go in your lockers and that's invasion of privacy,'' said Nikkii Paradis, 16. ``They shouldn't be able to invade your privacy,'' the Valencia High School junior said during a break Thursday from her class at a local driving school.

Her driving school classmate, Trisha Rea, also was dismayed at the new program and rejected the school district's justification for it.

``What if you do drugs, you get high every day, and you still get good grades? What does that matter?'' said Rea, 16, a Saugus High School junior.

``No matter what (the schools) do, people will find a way around it,'' Paradis said, suggesting students would just keep the material in their cars instead of their backpacks.

The dogs from Kontraband Interdiction & Detection Services are trained to sniff out drugs and alcohol in their finished form, rather than in their component ingredients. Therefore, the canines won't raise an alert on over-the-counter medications that might have some of the same ingredients as illegal drugs.

Across the street from the driving school, parents and kids shopped for uniforms that students will wear at La Mesa, Placerita and Sierra Vista junior highs. Many there expressed support for the surprise searches by the dog teams, thinking it would have a deterrent effect.

``I think it's a good idea, because then not as many people will bring drugs and weapons to school,'' said Skyler Chambers, 15, a Canyon High sophomore.

Students go to creative lengths to carry drugs, several kids said - noting some youths hide marijuana in a small Velcro pocket on the tongue of a popular style of shoes.

Cathy Miller, shopping for uniforms with her three sons, called the drug- and weapon-sniffing dogs ``a great idea'' because her boys have told her that some students were involved in that activity.

``I think it's sad that we have to do this,'' Miller said. ``It's sad that the school has to take this role, because that means parents aren't doing their job,'' she said. ``This sniffing business ought to start at home.''

On Wednesday, the school board will discuss how to punish transgressors. The district now has a ``zero tolerance'' policy toward drug and weapons offenders.

At minimum, students face a five-day suspension from school, possible arrest by the Sheriff's Department and often an expulsion hearing.

Offenses that trigger expulsion hearings include firearms possession, robbery, sexual battery, brandishing a knife and drug sales, Allmandinger said.

``It's not mandated that you expel. The principal has some leeway there,'' Allmandinger said.