The school board voted unanimously to approve the use of drug-detection dogs at Brown County Junior High School starting next school year.
“We’re fooling ourselves if we don’t think our junior high students are experimenting with something or regularly using,” Principal Brian Garman said.
“This won’t stop it all, because we’re not going to be searching students in classrooms. … If they keep it in their pockets or down their pants or down their shirt if they do that, that won’t be caught, but still we want to at least send a message to them this school is not the place to bring drugs.”
Superintendent Laura Hammack said use of the dogs is “an extra layer of protection.” Assistant Principal Gavin Steele said the school will work with Nashville Police Assistant Chief Tim True and his K9, Biker, to conduct the searches.
The Brown County Sheriff’s Department conducts locker and car searches at the high school, Steele said.
Board member Judy Hardwick asked about extending drug testing to junior high students, but Garman said he was not aware of any school districts with drug testing at the junior high level.
Steele said that with the size of the junior high, he and True are “confident” they can fit the search time to within one class period, which is 50 minutes. Students and teachers will be placed on lockdown status at the beginning of the period, meaning they can’t leave the classroom on a pass while the searches are conducted.
“As a grandparent and board member, I am 100 percent in favor of what we’re doing,” school board Marlene Barnett said.
Garman said parents will be notified about the possibility of random searches at the beginning of the school year.
