Galt High quietly drops drugsniffing dogs
By Andy Furillo
Bee Staff Writer
(Published May 17, 1997)
They've called off Galt High School's drugsniffing dogs.

In a unanimous vote, the Galt Joint Union High School District
terminated its unannounced campus drug searches featuring dogs nosing
through students' clothing and belongings.

"I'm very pleased the school was willing to back down on this," said
Jacob Reed, a Galt High senior whose refusal to allow the drug dogs to
take a whiff of his stuff propelled the district's search policy to
lawsuitlevel status.

"I feel their policy was wrong, and it was the wrong approach to tackle
the drug problem. But I'm very pleased. I think they still believe the
policy is good, but I'm pleased they were willing to back down on it."

The 50 vote came at Wednesday night's meeting, with virtually no
discussion. District Superintendent Ron Huebert was unavailable for
comment Friday. Board member Carol Pehl said district officials were
advised by their lawyers to refrain from commenting on their vote
because the federal lawsuit filed by Reed, fellow student Chris Sulamo
and criminal justice teacher Michael Millet is still pending in
Sacramento.

During a Feb. 6 search, a dog alerted to Sulamo's backpack. Officials
searched it and found nothing illegal. Sulamo was still suspended for
three days for his vociferous objection to the search. Reed refused to
allow the dogs to sniff his possessions. School officials then ordered
him to submit to a search. He did. Nothing illegal was found.

Scott Yarnell, the Sacramento lawyer representing the district, declined
to say why the district ditched the sniff policy, adding only that the
vote to get rid of the dogs "was taken on the recommendation of legal
counsel after we reviewed the policy and its implementation."

Yarnell said the recommendation came from himself and other lawyers at
the Sacramento firm of Kronick, Moskovits, Tiedemann & Girard. He said
he did not know how the vote will affect the lawsuit.

John Heller, a San Francisco attorney representing the plaintiffs, said
the portion of the suit challenging Sulamo's suspension remains intact.
He said he will be examining the district's position to determine if the
policy change is permanent or temporary before deciding whether to
pursue the bulk of the legal action.

"Their assurance appears to be that this is a permanent change," Heller
said. "It looks like we got precisely what we set out to accomplish. I
feel pleased, and I'm proud of Chris Sulamo and Jacob Reed, who really
put themselves on the line to stand up for their rights."

Heller called campus dogdrug sniffs "indefensible on constitutional
grounds." There are no test cases on the books in California, he said,
adding that "I would hope other districts take a hard look" at their own
policies.

At the San Juan Unified District, spokeswoman Christine Olsen said
drugsniffing dogs remain popular with parents but that the Galt
decision could result in a reexamination of the program.

"Our thinking is that the dogs would be a deterrent, discouraging kids
from bringing drugs to campus," Olsen said. "But if something comes up
in the law, or if new information becomes available, we would certainly
look at it."