The Central Dauphin School District is expanding the circumstances under which it can search suspicious students.
The school board voted Monday night to incorporate K9 searches and breathalyzer tests into its new search policy. The search would only be conducted if staff has suspicion. But, the breathalyzer test will be allowed to be administered randomly at school functions.
School board members stressed that they’re not trying to create a situation where students rights are violated. They say they’re just trying to make sure all 11,000 students in the district are safe.
The current search policy already allows for school officials to search students and their belongings without a warrant if they have reasonable suspicion. School board members say these changes expand the policy already in place.
“I think it’s reasonable. We’re not going to randomly hurt that conversation. We’re not going to pick out John Doe or Jane Doe and say, ‘Hey, we’re going to search you.’ There’s got to be reasonable cause for that. There’s got to be a suspicion of something and we’re going to be very sensitive to not violating student rights,” said school board President Ford Thompson.
The board says part of the reason for implementing this new search policy is because of school safety concerns across the country.
